Congresswoman McCollum Statement on Servicemembers Aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Congresswoman Betty McCollum, the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following statement on Friday amid reports of poor living conditions on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln because of the extended deployment of American servicemembers in the Arabian Sea.

"I have been demanding answers from the Pentagon for weeks about the conditions not only on the U.S.S. Lincoln, but also the U.S.S. Ford," said Ranking Member McCollum. "Once again, this week, I requested information from the Pentagon about the conditions aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln including how a food shortage, substandard sanitation, and no port time has led to low morale and a mental health crisis for some service members.

"Secretary Hegseth's leadership of the Department of Defense has been nonexistent, and President Trump's rudderless foreign policy has set our nation back severely. President Trump's reckless decision to withdraw from the JCPOA, negotiated by President Obama, had an immediate destabilizing effect on the Middle East. In his second term, President Trump has managed to turn a bad situation into a dangerous one by starting a war without a strategy and declaring victory prematurely. Servicemembers have died. The Trump Administration has spent billions of dollars. The strait of Hormuz was once open; it is now effectively closed by Iran. This is not a success story. It is a failure of leadership.

"I am grateful for the service of all the women and men aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln, as well as all American servicemembers deployed in the Middle East and around the world, whether at sea or on land. Our great men and women in uniform make our nation proud."