Democrats line up against defense bill after GOP amendments: live coverage

The top three Democrats in the House announced late Thursday night that they will vote against the annual defense bill, signaling that a large chunk of the Democratic Caucus will oppose the must-pass legislation when it comes to the floor for a final vote on Friday.

The announcement from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) came shortly after the chamber approved a number of conservative amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including ones pertaining to hot-button issues like abortion, transgender rights and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans have chosen to hijack the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to continue attacking reproductive freedom and jamming their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” the Democratic trio wrote in a joint statement.

— Mychael Schnell

The House has adjourned until 9 a.m. Friday.

The House has completed its series of 14 amendment votes. It is expected to be the final vote series on Thursday.

An amendment from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to prohibit using federal funds for training on diversity, equity and inclusion was rejected Thursday in a 210-221 vote.

Nine Republicans voted with all Democrats against the measure.

While this amendment failed, several other proposals to limit diversity measures at the Pentagon have passed on Thursday.

The New Democrat Coalition, which represents nearly 100 center-left Democrats, said its members would vote against the NDAA.

“Speaker McCarthy had a choice this week: work with Members on both sides of the aisle to pass a serious bill that protects our national security or kowtow to the most extreme elements of his party and engage in culture wars,” the group led by Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) wrote.

Pointing to amendments passed earlier Thursday, she added, “While there is a lot to be proud of in this legislation, these extremist attacks force us to oppose the bill.”

The group vowed to “continue working with our Senate colleagues and reasonable Republicans to get a bill done before the end of the year that truly keeps us safe at home and abroad.”

The House rejected an amendment from Reps. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) that “expresses a sense of Congress that the US should not continue subsidizing NATO member countries who choose not to invest in their own defense by meeting” established financial contribution targets.

The vote was 212-218, with two Democrats voting to support the measure and eight Republicans voting against it.

An amendment to prohibit the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine was rejected after splitting both parties.

The measure failed 147-276-2, with 98 Republicans and 49 Democrats voting in favor and 121 Republicans and 155 Democrats voting against it.

President Biden this week authorized the transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine. They arrived there on Thursday.

Cluster bombs are highly controversial munitions that are outlawed by more than 100 nations because of the long-lasting risk they pose to civilians. Explosions from the devices indiscriminately disperse hundreds of projectiles over a larger area, some of which may not explode on impact.

A proposal to prohibit using federal funds to rename military bases was rejected.

The amendment was offered by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) and failed on a 177-253 vote.

Forty-one Republicans voted with every Democrat against the measure.

The Department of Defense has been carrying out a program to rename military bases named after confederate leaders.

An amendment from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to prohibit Defense Department schools from having “pornographic and radical gender ideology books in their libraries” was adopted 222-209.

Two Democrats voted with every Republican in favor of the measure.

On a second vote, Rep. Ralph Norman’s (R-Okla.) anti-DEI amendment was adopted 214-213.

Four Republicans again voted against the measure.

The House is now voting for a second time on the amendment from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-Okla.) that had been rejected moments earlier in a tie vote.

An amendment from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-Okla.) to eliminate any offices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Department of Defense was rejected.

The vote was tied at 216-216, which means the proposal was not adopted.

Four Republicans voted against the measure.

Good ‘hoping to get to yes’ on NDAA

A proposed amendment from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) that would prohibit the Pentagon from requiring training in certain “race-based concepts” was adopted 214-210.

It was the first of 14 votes still to come tonight.

The House has started its final vote series of the night, which will include votes on 14 amendments.

Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee say they’ll vote against the NDAA.

“We worked with our colleagues in committee to pass a bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote that invested in the greatest sources of America’s national strength: service members and their families, innovation and technology, allies and partners, and our defense industrial base and military readiness,” they wrote.

But, they continued, “That bill no longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance. Attacks on reproductive rights, access to basic health care, and efforts to address our country’s history of racism and marginalization of huge swaths of our country will worsen our recruitment and retention crisis, make our military less capable, and do grievous harm to our national defense and national security.”

“For these reasons, we cannot and will not vote for the NDAA as amended on the House floor.”

The Democrats include: ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.).

A Republican lawmaker on Thursday referred to African Americans as “colored people” on the House floor, prompting outrage from Democrats and a quick rebuke from the chamber’s presiding officer.

Rep. Eli Crane (R), an Arizona freshman, was reprimanded after he took to the floor to promote an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that he says will rein in Defense Department “wokeness” — a racially charged concept that has divided the parties and the country in recent years. 

During debate over the amendment, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) — the former head of the Congressional Black Caucus — railed against the measure, arguing that Republicans were “setting us back.”

“I’m old enough to remember when Black officers, when women, were not allowed to serve,” Beatty said. “You are setting us back. On this floor on both sides of the aisle we have people of color, we have people who have served.”

Crane, a former Navy Seal, shot back after Beatty concluded her remarks, arguing that his amendment “has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve.”

“It has nothing to do with color of your skin,” he continued, ignoring an interruption from Beatty.

Once Crane wrapped up his comments, Beatty asked that his words “colored people” be stricken from the official record, calling it “offensive and very inappropriate.”

“I am asking for unanimous consent to take down the words of referring to me or any of my colleagues as colored people,” she said.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis

Five House Republican-backed initiatives to curtail aid to Ukraine using the annual Pentagon policy bill were shot down Thursday afternoon in votes that saw a consensus from both sides of the aisle to keep money flowing to Kyiv. 

The Ukraine-related amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would have effectively limited or rolled back U.S. involvement in Ukraine, but a majority of Republicans joined Democrats in opposition to the proposals. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) put forth one amendment to strike $300 million in Ukraine funding that failed 89-341, with 130 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it. 

Another proposal from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), which would have prohibited all security assistance for Ukraine, similarly failed 70-358 on the House floor, with 149 Republicans opposing it. 

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

— Ellen Mitchell

Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of a GOP amendment to prohibit the secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services has passed.

The vote was 221-213.

The amendment — which would effectively roll back a recently enacted Pentagon policy that covers travel expenses for service members who must leave the state where they are stationed for abortion services and allows them to take time off to do so — presents perhaps the greatest danger to the passage of the NDAA as a whole.

Democrats have indicated the amendment would be a red line for their votes.

Cuellar is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House and well-known for his opposition to abortion rights.

Reps. John Duarte (Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) were the only Republicans to vote against the amendment.

Two amendments from Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) to limit federal funding from being used for diversity initiatives passed Thursday.

One would prohibit such funds from “being used to establish a position within the Department of Defense for anything similar to Chief Diversity Officers or Senior Advisors for Diversity and Inclusion.” It passed 217-212.

The second would prohibit Department of Defense schools from promoting “that, 1) Any race is inherently superior or inferior to any other race, color, or national origin. 2) The US is a fundamentally racist country. 3) The Declaration of Independence or the US Constitution are racist documents, 4) An individual’s moral character or worth is determined by the individual’s race, color, or national origin. 5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race, is inherently racist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously. 6) An individual, because of the individual’s race, bears responsibility for the actions committed by other members of the individual’s race, color, or national origin.”

It passed 227-201.

Five amendments that would limit or roll back U.S. involvement in Ukraine failed, with Republicans crossing the aisle to join Democrats in opposition.

An amendment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to strike $300 million in Ukraine funding failed 89-341, with 130 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal.

A proposal from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to prohibit security assistance for Ukraine similarly failed 70-358 on the House floor, with 149 Republicans opposing it.

An amendment from Greene to strike the creation of a Center of Excellence in Ukraine failed 95-332; one from Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) to require “the President, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State, to develop and submit a report to Congress that contains a strategy for U.S. involvement in Ukraine” failed 129-301; and a proposal from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) to strike part of the bill, which extends lend-lease authority to Ukraine was rejected 71-360.

A proposal from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to prohibit security assistance for Ukraine similarly failed on the House floor, with 149 Republicans opposing it.

The vote was 70-358.

An amendment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to strike $300 million in Ukraine funding failed 89-341, with 130 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal.

Two amendments to limit gender-affirming care have passed.

One offered by Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) to prohibit “TRICARE from covering and the Department of Defense from furnishing sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals” passed 222-211.

A second amendment, offered by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) prohibiting “provision of gender transition procedures, including surgery or medication, through the Exceptional Family Member Program,” passed 222-210.

In both cases, one Republican voted against while one Democrat was in favor.

An amendment to prohibit the secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services has passed.

The vote was 221-213. Two Republicans voted against the proposal while one Democrat voted in favor.

The amendment would effectively roll back a recently enacted Pentagon policy that covers travel expenses for service members who must leave the state where they are stationed for abortion services and allows them to take time off to do so.

The issue has been a hot-button one. Across the Capitol, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has blocked hundreds of military promotions over his opposition to the policy.

Democrats have indicated the amendment would be a red line for their votes, immediately putting the overall bill in greater jeopardy in the House.

The House is beginning a series of a dozen votes on amendments to the NDAA.

The votes included in this series will pertain to nuclear weapons, abortion, gender-affirming care and Ukraine.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said Thursday “we need to be woke” while pushing back on an amendment that would ban diversity officials at the Pentagon.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would prohibit federal funds from being used to create positions at the Pentagon similar to that of a diversity officer or adviser for diversity and inclusion. Horsford argued that more lawmakers need to be woke, pointing to “decades and centuries of injustices and inequalities” against women and various minority groups.

“My Republican colleagues continue to argue against this so-called wokeism in the military. I ask my colleagues, can they define what being woke is? According to the Florida governor’s own legal team, it’s defined as ‘the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,’” Horsford said, quoting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) general counsel.

“Mr. Speaker I have news for my colleagues: we need to be woke,” he continued. “We have decades and centuries of injustices and inequities heaped upon women, LGBTQ+ community, Black and Latino, Native American and Asian, and so many other populations in our nation. Mr. Speaker, and while the Republicans and their friends across the country try to ban books and erase our history from school textbooks, we are fighting to defend the truth and our history.”

He concluded his floor speech saying “I am woke, and more of my colleagues need to be woke.”

Republicans frequently rail against “woke” policies, which could pertain to issues like race, gender and sexuality. Those culture wars evaded this year’s NDAA, with lawmakers submitting amendments targeting diversity and inclusion initiatives and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals.

— Mychael Schnell

Throughout the year, McCarthy’s sharpest GOP critics have been Freedom Caucus members wary of the Speaker’s dedication to conservative ideals. But an outspoken member of the group is hailing McCarthy’s handling of the NDAA bill, saying the Speaker and his leadership team have bent over backward to satisfy the conservatives’ demands — even if those lawmakers ultimately oppose the final package.

“They’ve been fantastic. This is not a Paul Ryan Republican majority,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said. “Kevin’s doing great, and I’m a core member of the Freedom Caucus, as you know.”

Ryan (R-Wis.), who served as Speaker from late 2015 to early 2019, was an early darling of the right for his deficit-slashing budget proposals. But conservatives soured on him in the later years.

McCarthy, since taking the gavel in January, has faced some of the same pressures from some of those same lawmakers, who were furious with his handling of the debt ceiling package and are now pressing him for votes on a host of NDAA amendments focused on social issues.

Higgins gave McCarthy high marks for his effort to do just that.

“Leadership has done an excellent job here. And the Rules Committee guys have busted their ass getting this thing into a package where the most conservative of us can say, ‘Wow, this is a legitimate, good-faith effort,'” he said.

But in a sign of the challenges facing McCarthy, Higgins also suggested he’ll oppose the final NDAA bill if it excludes the amendments he’s demanding, which relate to abortion, gender-affirming care, Ukraine and the unlawful detention of American citizens.

“It would be very difficult for me to get to a yes on an NDAA that does not address, through the conservative perspective, in a Republican majority, those issues that I just stated,” he said.

— Mike Lillis

Two GOP-sponsored amendments pertaining to Ukraine drew opposition from within the party Thursday, with two Republicans speaking out against the measures on the House floor.

An amendment sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — which would strike $300 million of funding for Ukraine from the underlying bill — faced criticism from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who said he would “oppose any cutting of the defense because we know this is a worldwide war that we’re in of authoritarians versus democracies; this is not a war we chose, war criminal Putin is the person who started the war on Feb. 24.”

He cited former President Reagan, saying he believes in “peace through strength.”

The next amendment considered was sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), which would prohibit security assistance for Ukraine. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who was born in Ukraine, spoke against the measure on the House floor.

“I disagree that Ukraine is not a national interest,” Spartz said. “Stopping this war and deterring aggressors like China and Russia, it is in our national interest.”

“Now we need to help Ukraine and we need to understand that, you know, there are a lot of life are going to, you know, to be lost for Ukrainians, but we need to make sure that we don’t have never-ending war and better and faster security assistance will be help to restore peace.”

— Mychael Schnell

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) initially voted against the NDAA rule Thursday — before changing his vote in support — because his amendment pertaining to studies on psychedelic substances was not teed up for a vote.

Crenshaw submitted an amendment to the annual defense bill that would create a grant program at the Defense Department to study the use of certain psychedelic substances as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

He claimed that a “watered-down” version of the amendment was included in the measure, prompting him to submit an amendment to restore the initial version. But that amendment was not made in order, sparking “frustration.”

“This year we wanted to get it into the base text. Again, at the eleventh hour some staffers changed it before I could react to it because I’m not on [House Armed Services Committee] and got like a watered-down version. So then I had to put a floor amendment on to get it back to the real version. And staffers on Rule Committee did not put it in order,” Crenshaw told reporters following the rule vote. “So that was the source of my frustration, why I initially voted no then had to speak with leadership.”

He ultimately switched his vote in favor of the rule after receiving assurances from leadership “that we’re gonna fix it.”

“We’re either gonna fix that in conference or, you know, there’s a couple vehicles to fix that still. So we shall see. Or maybe it’s a standalone bill,” Crenshaw said.

— Mychael Schnell