FILE - U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., listens during a hearing, March 14, 2022, in Manchester, N.H. Kuster said Wednesday, March 27, 2024 she will not seek reelection to Congress for a seventh term in November, leaving the state's sprawling 2nd District open to a possible GOP successor. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02) issued the following statement after voting against House Republicans’ partisan defense spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025:

“The brave men and women in uniform who sacrifice so much for our country and our freedoms deserve a defense spending bill that puts their well-being and our national security above all else.

“Yet once again, Speaker Johnson has catered to the most extreme fringes of his party and upended this traditionally bipartisan process by injecting partisan provisions into the bill that would deny the family members and children of servicemembers access to the health care they are entitled to.

“For months, I have urged the Republican leadership to work with Democrats to pass an annual defense spending bill that upholds our sacred promise to support our nation’s servicemembers–I remain committed to advancing a bipartisan bill that raises servicemembers’ salaries and expands access to housing, health and child care, and other services that our nation’s heroes have earned and deserve.”