posted April 30, 2025 06:09 PM            

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Tuesday that he had begun to shutter a Pentagon program meant to advance women’s participation in peace-building and conflict prevention, which was created by a law written by GOP lawmakers and signed by President Trump during his first term.

“This morning, I proudly ENDED the ‘Women, Peace & Security’ (WPS) program inside the [Defense Department],” Hegseth wrote in a post on the social platform X.

He said the program was “yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops — distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING.”

Hegseth also called WPS a “UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists,” claiming that “troops HATE it.”

As the program is under federal statute and can’t be outright killed by Hegseth alone, he said the Pentagon would comply with the minimum requirements of the WPS and fight to end the program during the department’s next appropriations process.

Hegseth’s move to dismantle the program is particularly notable given that Trump signed the program into law in 2017, after it was backed by multiple members of his current Cabinet while they were members of Congress.

The 2017 Women, Peace and Security Act was penned by current Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, then a member of the House representing South Dakota, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

The Senate’s version of the law was co-sponsored by current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator. Rubio lauded the Women, Peace and Security Act earlier this month, saying it was “the first law passed by any country in the world focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.”

And Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, a former House member for Florida, was a founding member of the WPS Caucus when he was in Congress.

The Trump campaign website even cited the initiative as one of his top accomplishments for women during his first term.

posted April 30, 2025 06:11 PM            

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Originally posted by teasel:

The Senate’s version of the law was co-sponsored by current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a Florida senator. Rubio lauded the Women, Peace and Security Act earlier this month, saying it was “the first law passed by any country in the world focused on protecting women and promoting their participation in society.”

And Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, a former House member for Florida, was a founding member of the WPS Caucus when he was in Congress.

The Trump campaign website even cited the initiative as one of his top accomplishments for women during his first term.

The law ​​was intended to promote the participation of women in all aspects of overseas conflict prevention, management and resolution, as well as postconflict relief and recovery efforts, to be implemented at the State Department, Pentagon and other government agencies.

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Quoting myself, for this part. It was created by Republicons in his first term, and he was fine with it.