{"id":1969707,"date":"2023-07-11T14:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T18:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-banks-blasts-bidens-unconstitutional-and-dangerous-push-for-racial-and-sexual-politics-in-the-military\/"},"modified":"2023-07-11T14:05:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T18:05:57","slug":"jim-banks-blasts-bidens-unconstitutional-and-dangerous-push-for-racial-and-sexual-politics-in-the-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-banks-blasts-bidens-unconstitutional-and-dangerous-push-for-racial-and-sexual-politics-in-the-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Banks criticizes Biden&#8217;s unconstitutional and risky promotion of identity politics in the military."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjim-banks-blasts-bidens-unconstitutional-and-dangerous-push-for-racial-and-sexual-politics-in-the-military%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1969707&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<div>\n<figure>\n    <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Rep. Jim Banks Slams President Biden for Opposing Amendments to Restore Meritocracy in the Armed Forces<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is fiercely criticizing President Joe Biden for opposing several legislative amendments to a House defense bill that would bring back meritocracy to the U.S. armed forces.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the White House sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/H.R.-2670-NDAA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> to ranking members of the House Armed Services Committee listing sections in the <a href=\"https:\/\/rules.house.gov\/sites\/republicans.rules118.house.gov\/files\/RCP_xml_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024<\/a> that it continues to oppose. Included in the list are numerous NDAA provisions that would restrict the Defense Department\u2019s (DOD) use of DEI ideology, which the administration claims \u201cpromote a cohesive and inclusive force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe men and women serving our country deserve much better than a commander-in-chief who reduces them to their sex and the color of their skin,\u201d Banks told The Federalist. \u201cIt\u2019s offensive, unconstitutional, and dangerous!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shorthand for \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DEI<\/a> is a poisonous ideology that\u2019s dismissive of merit and discriminates based on characteristics such as skin color and sexual orientation. Individuals who qualify for a certain position due to their merits but don\u2019t meet the discriminating entity\u2019s goal of being more \u201cdiverse\u201d are often passed over in favor of those who meet the preferred identitarian standards.<\/p>\n<p>Among the NDAA provisions opposed by the White House are two amendments sponsored by Banks and approved by the House Armed Services Committee, one of which would <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/21\/house-committee-advances-amendment-restoring-meritocracy-to-military-personnel-decisions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mandate<\/a> the Pentagon use a merit-based system to determine military promotions and assignments. The other would prohibit the defense secretary from appointing or employing anyone, military or civilian, \u201cwith a rank or grade in excess of GS\u201310\u201d to carry out DEI-related duties.<\/p>\n<p>A separate amendment offered by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., defunding DEI initiatives in the military altogether was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense-national-security\/two-republicans-block-defund-dei-military-ndaa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">killed<\/a> during the committee markup process last month after Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, sided with Democrats in opposing the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the White House did not express opposition to another Banks amendment that suspends the Navy\u2019s \u201cDigital Ambassador\u201d program. Earlier this year, The Daily Caller <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/05\/01\/us-navy-drag-queen-recruitment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a> the Navy brought on Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley \u2014 an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/i-cant-believe-i-fought-for-this-bullsh-t-navy-seal-who-killed-bin-laden-blasts-pentagon-for-drag-queen-gimmick\/\" title=\"Navy SEAL who killed Bin Laden criticizes Pentagon for drag queen performance.\">active-duty drag queen<\/a> who goes by the stage name Harpy Daniels and identifies as nonbinary \u2014 to be a \u201cNavy Digital Ambassador.\u201d The Digital Ambassador initiative, which ran from October 2022 to March 2023, was reportedly \u201cdesigned to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates\u201d for military recruitment, according to a Navy representative.<\/p>\n<p>A conservative legal group has since <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/14\/legal-group-demands-navy-investigate-active-duty-drag-queen-for-allegedly-violating-military-protocol\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">referred<\/a> Kelley to the Navy for investigation for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-banks-blasts-bidens-unconstitutional-and-dangerous-push-for-racial-and-sexual-politics-in-the-military\/\" title=\"Jim Banks criticizes Biden's unconstitutional and risky promotion of identity politics in the military.\">allegedly violating existing military protocols<\/a> by engaging in partisan politics and disrespecting his superiors.<\/p>\n<p>Additional NDAA provisions opposed by the White House that would limit DEI ideology in the military include those prohibiting the \u201cuse of federal funds for certain training or education that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/crt-activist-ibram-x-kendi-defends-lebron-people-mad-cop-didnt-disarm-girl-who-was-stabbing-someone\/\" title=\"CRT Activist Ibram X. Kendi Defends LeBron: People Mad Cop Didn\u2019t \u2018Disarm\u2019 Girl Who Was Stabbing Someone\">promotes critical race theory<\/a>,\u201d barring the use of federal money for drag shows and drag queen story hour, and cutting the position of DOD chief diversity officer, among others.<\/p>\n<p>The House is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/other\/what-is-in-the-national-defense-authorization-act-ahead-of-house-floor-vote\/ar-AA1dCQHz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expected<\/a> to vote on the NDAA FY2024 sometime this week.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>About the Author<\/h3>\n<p>Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>which the administration opposes. Banks argues that Biden&#8217;s opposition to these amendments undermines the principle of meritocracy in the military. The amendments aim to address concerns about diversity and inclusion initiatives that some believe prioritize identity politics over qualifications. Banks believes that the military should prioritize the best candidates based on merit alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":1969708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1969707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1969708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}