House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov and SPF Subcommittee Ranking Member @repjoecourtney.bsky.social condemned the staggering cost estimate for Trump’s vanity battleship, which jumped from $15B in April to over $23B in the latest budget review.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov released the following statement after voting no on the House defense bill, which includes a staggering $1.6 trillion price tag and toxic and highly partisan amendments.

“If Congress doesn’t pass legislation, it makes Trump’s ongoing fascist takeover easier (but) the problem with this year's defense authorization bill is that it comes with ... $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending for the DoD." @democrats-armedservices.house.gov RM @adamsmith.house.gov

"The President of the United States is now in a fight with Iran over who can extort the rest of the world." - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

"Another thing we could do is actually work with the rest of the nations in the world ... instead of constantly belittling them & fighting them. Diplomacy ... is the only way out of this." - @adamsmith.house.gov on how to end Trump's war against Iran.

As we celebrate this 4th of July & our 250th anniversary of independence, let’s remember the generations of U.S. service members & the sacrifices they’ve made, & continue to make, to ensure our democracy endures & America remains a beacon of freedom, opportunity & justice for all. #America250

"Republicans have voted against the defense budget too. Are they slapping the Armed Services Members in the face?" - Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov responding to House Rules Chair Virginia Fox's attack on Members opposed to the Trump Admin's out of control $1.6 trillion defense budget.

"It's partially a vanity project. And also ... it's just a mistake." - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov responding to House Committee on Rules Ranking Member @repmcgovern.bsky.social asking about Trump's over $20 billion battleship vanity project.

"Today’s Senate vote to pass the House Resolution to prevent Donald Trump from continuing his war of choice with Iran is yet another blindingly clear message to the president that he must end his catastrophic war of choice now.

"Trump has fundamentally failed in this war to try to bring Iran's nuclear program to heel. ... How do we deter and contain Iran now that Trump has put us in this weaker position?" - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov with Alex Witt on @msnownews.bsky.social

Nat Sec Dems are demanding the Trump Admin brief Congress on the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.

"This year’s bill continues the committee’s work to reform the Defense Acquisition System ... ensures the quality of life needs of service members, military families, and civilian personnel are met ...

"The most important thing about this video is there is nothing classified about it... yet they refuse to release this one. Why? Because if the public sees it, they cannot defend it." - @adamsmith.house.gov on @keating.house.gov's NDAA amdt to require DoD to release double-tap boat strike video.

The message from today’s bipartisan Iran War Powers Resolution vote to Trump is crystal clear: End your disastrous war of choice against Iran NOW. - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

Today, we honor service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the security and strength of our country endures. Our gratitude should not only be expressed on this day, but every day.

"Don't believe this claim that if Donald Trump hadn't launched this ridiculous & failed war in the Middle East, Iran would have had a nuclear weapon. He's made it more likely that will happen & made us have to work harder to prevent that from happening." - Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

Trump pulling 5K U.S. troops from Germany is not grounded in coherent U.S. nat sec policy, strategy or analysis. It's counter to what is needed and will embolden Russia and is due to Trump's hurt feelings by Chancellor Merz’s statements criticizing his war against Iran. - RM @adamsmith.house.gov

"If we are going to be this big, powerful force that throws our weight around the world, the world wants to know ... we're doing it for the right reasons & w/a sense of values to protect people, not to destroy entire civilizations." - HASC Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov to Secretary Hegseth

"If we are going to be this big, powerful force that throws our weight around the world, the world wants to know, at a minimum, that we're doing it for the right reasons and with a sense of values to protect people, not to destroy entire civilizations." - Ranking Member @AdamSmith to Sec Hegseth.

"They keep saying we are ahead of schedule, we're meeting all of our objectives, and all they really mean by that is we're blowing a lot of stuff up. ... How does that move towards a strategic success? Because the goal of this war should not be just to blow stuff up." - HASC RM @adamsmith.house.gov

Military Personnel Subcommittee Democrats, led by Ranking Member @houlahan.house.gov, have called for the immediate rescheduling of a long-overdue oversight hearing on the Military Health System, which hasn't happened since 2019. Read their letter here. ⬇️

And as I said on "On Balance" with Leland Vittert on NewsNation last night, "I am looking what is happening and the Iranians are not giving up their nuclear material. The Strait of Hormuz is not open. They have not stopped supporting Hezbollah and Hamas."

As I said on NewsMax's American Agenda yesterday afternoon, "President Trump has said ... for five weeks that we've won, it's over, it's done. And then it just keeps going."

"It is incredibly frustrating to listen to the news media ... actually believe what Donald Trump says. How many times does he have to tell outrageous lies before we finally realize he doesn't tell the truth?" - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

"(Democrats) have been demanding, since this war started, a public hearing... . The answer ... from the majority was, 'we don't need to because we've got CENTCOM ... coming for a budget hearing.' ... That was never satisfactory... & now even that has been delayed a month." - RM @AdamSmith

“The devastating loss of 67 lives over the Potomac last year highlighted longstanding systemic failures in how civilian and military aircraft operate in shared airspace and was 100 percent preventable. ...

“We face many NatSec challenges. As we look to this year & beyond, Congress must play a critical role in addressing these issues (and) reestablish its authority & responsibility as a co-equal branch of government." @adamsmith.house.gov lays out @democrats-armedservices.house.gov priorities.

"Donald Trump's autocratic, arrogant approach to governing ... needs to be called out. ... We are trapped in a war with Iran ... Now we have to try to get the Strait of Hormuz open, which wasn't an issue before this war started. We pay for autocracy." - HASC Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

"Secretary Hegseth’s latest baseless firings, this time of Army Chief of Staff General Randy George and other senior military officers, weaken our national security and national defense at a time when we can least afford it. " - @democrats-armedservices.house.gov Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov

“If it was still somehow unclear to my Republican colleagues that the president lacks the character and will to recognize a cataclysmic error and the capacity to take action to fix that error, it is my sincere hope that last night serves as a wake-up call." - Ranking Member @adamsmith.house.gov