Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) have sent a letter to House Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to urge that the committee hold a hearing to look into “recruiter improprieties, including sexual harassment and assault by military recruiters on recruits and potential enlistees.” They referred to an Associated Press news report earlier this summer that more than 80 recruiters from all branches had been disciplined in 2005 and a recent Government Accountability Report criticizing DOD for its lack of recruiting oversight. Skelton and Snyder noted that the “majority of military recruiters are doing a tremendous job.”
House lawmakers unveiled a new reconciliation package July 15 with $60 billion for defense, $290 billion less than the Pentagon has been seeking, a day after a Senate vote to advance the annual defense policy bill failed—developments that show the perilous state of the Pentagon’s ambitious plans for fiscal 2027.