Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Homeland Security

Pay for 65% of Medicare with defense waste (FactCheck: 20%)

The price tag of Sen. Berne Sanders' Medicare-for-all plan is estimated at $32 trillion over the next 10 years. The "$21T in errors" comes from "The Nation," a left-leaning magazine. In 2015, for example, the Pentagon reported $6.5 trillion in "unsupported journal voucher adjustments."

But the $21 trillion is the sum of all transactions--both inflows and outflows--for which there is inadequate documentation. The same dollar could be accounted for many times, so it could not be used to pay for 66& of the $32T cost. The CBO estimates a total of $7 trillion in defense spending in the next 10 years--which could yield at most 20% of $32 trillion. We award Four Pinocchios to Ocasio-Cortez

Honors and thanks all veterans for their service

PVS:Cut defense to balance budget.

Project Vote Smart inferred whether candidates agree or disagree with the statement, 'Budget: In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?' PVS self-description: "The Political Courage Test provides voters with positions on key issues. Historically, candidates have failed to complete our test due to the advice they receive from their advisors and out of fear of negative attack ads."

Sponsored "Combating International Islamophobia Act".

H.R.5665: Combating International Islamophobia Act: This bill establishes within the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia and addresses related issues. The bill requires annual reports to Congress about human rights and religious freedom in foreign countries to include information about Islamophobia, such as:

1. acts of physical violence or harassment of Muslim people,
2. instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or promote hatred or incite violence against Muslim people, and
3. actions taken by a country's government to respond to such acts. The office shall coordinate and assist in preparing these portions of the reports.

Rationale to vote NO (Rep. Zeldin, R-NY, 12/14/21)::: Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, announced that he will vote against H.R. 5665, a partisan resolution: "Rep. Ilhan Omar's bill that is supposed to combat Islamophobia does not even define 'Islamophobia'. In fact, the way the bill is worded intentionally plays into Omar's calculating game that any criticism about any topic relating to her, even if it has absolutely nothing at all to do with her religion, could be defined as 'Islamophobia'. That is absurd and I will vote 'no'!"

Rationale to vote YES (NY1.com, 12/15/21)::: "Our country's commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries, and the Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world," a statement of support issued by the White House read. The bill comes after Republicans in Congress have targeted the three Muslim members of Congress as members of a "jihad squad."

Legislative Outcome: Passed House 219-212-3 on 12/14/2021, Roll no. 448)' introduced in Senate on 12/15/21 and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations; no further Senate action during 2021.