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.
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.
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
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.