The United States military has faced considerable internal turmoil under the Biden administration, from COVID vaccine mandates to “anti-extremism” training. Now, Democrats are claiming that the 2024 defense appropriations bill drafted by Republicans contains divisive provisions harmful to American troops.

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee issued a press release contending that the bill would allow “disinformation campaigns and extremist views,” fail to invest in “critical climate change programs,” attack the LGBT movement within the military via “hateful provisions,” and prevent government-funded abortion travel for service members.

The lawmakers also claimed that a ban on retribution against “any individual with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union of one man and one woman” in the Republican proposal would limit “the diversity of our military.”

“The most solemn duty of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee is to protect all our service members,” Defense Ranking Member Betty McCollum (D-MN) said in the release. “We must ensure that they have the resources and tools needed to execute their missions safely, support their families back home, and above all else, honor the service and sacrifice of those wearing the uniform.”

Former Navy SEAL Asa Miller said in an interview with The Sentinel that he has seen firsthand how the Democrats have ignored the most urgent military needs while pushing leftist agendas.

“It raises the question, where were they when dozens of SEAL operators, like myself and tens of thousands of other service members, were kicked to the curb over the COVID vaccine?” Miller said. “We were ordered to perform demeaning and punitive tasks simply for faithfully following our religious beliefs.”

Miller added that President Joe Biden and other Democratic officials “instigated” the crackdown against service members who refused the vaccine. “For two years, we were stripped from access to equipment and training, our loyalty questioned, and families left wondering if there would be a next paycheck,” he continued.

Democrat leaders such as McCollum, according to Miller, are also neglecting one of the most significant causes of service members’ deaths.

“Where has Congresswoman McCollum been as recruitment falls and suicide and depression in the ranks rise? Her concern for ‘the troops’ is laughable,” he remarked to The Sentinel. “If she cared and listened to those on the ground, Congresswoman McCollum would know that the troops do not want men dressed as women grinding on their children at the base library, and female service members do not want fully intact men masquerading as women showering in their locker rooms.”

Miller said that the responsibility for morale and health among troops lies among leadership that frequently caters to political agendas.

“Warriors want to train for war. Plain and simple, they love their country and do not want DEI officers pushing CRT and the disdain it entails for them and their country shoved down their throats,” he commented. “While defunding this is crucial, senior members must be held accountable for allowing these practices, knowing full well the damage it does to morale. Unfortunately, many of the senior ‘leaders’ live for a pat on the back from a DoD bureaucrat and the promotion obedience brings, instead of caring for their people.”

The Republican defense appropriations bill would add some $826 billion in new discretionary spending, a slight increase over the Biden administration appropriations request and nearly $29 billion over the level enacted in the previous fiscal year, according to a press release from Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee.

The proposal indeed bans travel funding for service members seeking abortions, a policy which the Biden administration enacted after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The bill would also enact a formal ban on using government-issued credit cards for strip clubs and pornography, prohibit funding for transgender surgeries and hormone treatments, and cease drag queen events. The bill would also curb Biden’s diversity, equity, and inclusion executive orders and remove critical race theory curricula from military training.