Senate Democrats blocked a $1 trillion annual defense bill Tuesday, refusing to advance the bipartisan package that would substantially increase Pentagon spending, including a pay raise for the troops, in protest of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced his opposition and other key Democrats said they could not support the annual bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, as the war drags into a fifth month with no clear endgame in sight. The tally was 50-46, failing largely along party lines to reach the threshold needed.
“The NDAA cannot become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran,” Schumer, of New York, said ahead of voting.
“Donald Trump does not get to drag the American people deeper into a war he cannot explain and does not know how to end—and then demand that Congress look the other way.”
The Senate vote comes a day after the White House formally notified Congress that it had resumed bombing strikes against Iran, effectively undoing the fragile ceasefire in the U.S.-Israel led conflict that has resulted in economic disruptions, including volatile gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.
Congress has tried repeatedly to slap guardrails on the administration, voting more than 10 times on various war powers resolutions that would halt hostilities. But those efforts have not succeeded, and most Republicans in the House and Senate majorities back Trump.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the defense package a good bill and implored his colleagues to provide the resources to ensure the U.S. is kept safe.
No room for $400M for USAID but we totally need to throw another billion at an embarrassing war that doesn’t exist but also we won on day 1.
Trillion. It’s our healthcare money
Exactly. We shouldn’t be spending a trillion bucks on ANYTHING, until we have health care in this country.
Nothing will improve until we overthrow these treasonous politicians
We’re spending that each day apparently in Iran.
Congress has tried repeatedly to slap guardrails on the administration, voting more than 10 times on various war powers resolutions that would halt hostilities. But those efforts have not succeeded, and most Republicans in the House and Senate majorities back Trump.
I’m old enough to remember when everyone agreed you needed 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate.
Curious how the Iran bomb money and the Israel genocide money always keeps getting through.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the defense package a good bill and implored his colleagues to provide the resources to ensure the U.S. is kept safe.
The United States has spent over $14 trillion on cumulative defense and national security since 2002. Curiously, we still aren’t any safer than we were the day before the 9/11 attacks.
But you have more debt, an overall worse societal outcome … and a few people got insanely rich. Did you say ‘Thank you!’ once?
Bin Laden won
I’m old enough to remember when everyone agreed you needed 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate
You never needed 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate. What you need 60 votes for is to decide to stop arguing and hold the actual vote, which has only ever needed a majority. Voting for cloture doesn’t necessarily mean you intend to vote for whatever is being discussed.
Edit: it turns out this was a cloture vote to begin with. So it needed 60 votes anyway.
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1192/vote_119_2_00195.htm
Used to need 60 votes to confirm secretaries and judges, dems canned that but left it for scotus position, only for the rep to take that away
Arguably the sealed metal doors on plane cockpits are safer but they didn’t cost 14 Trillion.
On the Airbus, maybe.
Boeing? I wouldn’t bank on it
That’s a good point. There’s probably a realistic comparison between the danger from hijackings and the dangers of deregulation.
Imagine how well the Democrats could do in the midterms if they actually were to hold the line on this. I know they’ll cave, because it’s just what they do, but just let me dream for a few minutes…
We as citizens are far more endangered by our for-profit healthcare system and the risk of poverty and homelessness always one market turn away than from anything the military prevents. I bet a trillion dollars a year could help make is safer from the real threats.
I hate the US healthcare system. I’ve had the same doctor for like my entire adult life, but my current shit insurance says they’re “out of network”. And I can’t figure out what I need to do to get a weird skin-thing looked at. If it’s cancer and it goes badly because of this delay, I am going to be furious and then probably dead.
Talk to your favorite doctor, maybe they can get added to your network. I’ve had mixed results with that over the years, but it’s worth a try.
I once got networked out from my favorite doctor, and procrastinated finding a new one. Then I got a sinus infection and figured I’d just pay for a visit to get antibiotics, but they had been added to my network by then, and the visit was covered!
Sometimes procrastination works, like slapping the side of the TV.
This same bill would merge the US and Israeli militaries. Total bullshit. This country is fucking crumbling around us as we wait for free snacks at Costco.
Good, let them hold a fucking bake-sale to buy a bomb…
What, like what peasants have to do to pay for cancer treatments? That’s communisocialism libtard!
~literally fuck this god damn reality~
Let’s just make the military budget a GoFundMe. I’m sure the super patriot bomb humpers will chip in. Maybe AIPAC can redirect their lobbying money to the effort.
Surely the military, which drains massive amounts of money and has never passed an audit, will be very successful in a simple capitalist market.
Can’t help but notice Chuck has no issues with the parts about giving carte Blanche to the executive to redirect our millitary budget and resources to Israel specifically.
Since deaths come in threes, after McConnell (🤞🏽)and Graham, I was really hoping Schmuck would round out the trio. His loss would be an enormous Democratic gain, and a serious blow to MAGA.
Just an aside: I don’t use emojis much, but when I went to add the crossed fingers emoji, I realized that I no longer have Caucasian emojis, they’re all brown. I’m not an offended MAGA or anything, but what happened to my Caucasian emojis?
Well, it is what the Baileys would want him to do, you know.
Whatever, it’s all for show. They ain’t doing shit, clearly, after all this time. They’ll let it go through in a week or so cause all the Democrat senators are fucking pussies. They all bend right over when shit gets too tough for them.
*Senate uniparty kicks off its show pony song and dance before ultimately “giving in”
“Military Industrial Complex pony club, I’m gonna keep on dancing at the Military Industrial Complex pony club!
It’s got a pleasant lilt to it.
“They promised to listen to us in the future.”
Let them pass it if Pentagon can pass an audit
(this is a joke, the Pentagon has never passed an audit)
‘Amazingly, everyone in Senate got through the whole ordeal without pointing out that their democracy is a rotting husk drooping corpse fluid on their constituents in need’, said a baffled onlooker while they tried really hard not to buy that latte-frappé today. ‘Paramilitaries roam the streets in search of the next kill, true, but the pastries at the buffet today were really spectacular, you got got have the good with the bad’ Said a senator who couldn’t feign even the slightest iota of interest.
