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NDAA blocked over Iran
Senate Democrats blocked debate on the annual National Defense Authorization Act as a 50-46 vote failed to reach the 60 votes needed to advance the $1.15 trillion defense authorization bill, with the fight centered on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the size of the Pentagon budget.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said ahead of voting, “The NDAA cannot become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran,” and he argued Republicans wanted the Senate to proceed “as though Congress can debate the nation’s central national security bill while ignoring the nation’s most urgent national security crisis.”
The Hill reported that the motion to proceed failed by a vote of 50 to 46, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune switching his vote from “yes” to “no” to allow him to bring the motion back to the floor later.
The Hill also said the legislation would provide $1.1 trillion to the Department of Defense, $41 billion to the Department of Energy to manage the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and $11 billion to other defense-related activities, while including a 3.6 percent pay raise for troops.
Al Jazeera added that Democrats objected not only to the Iran war but also to provisions that would more closely integrate the United States and Israeli militaries, including a requirement for the Pentagon to appoint an official to coordinate between the US and Israel on defense technology.
Schumer, Thune, and Israel
Schumer urged Democrats to oppose advancing the NDAA, calling it “a permission slip” for the Trump administration to continue military operations in Iran without congressional oversight, and he said Republicans wanted the Senate to take up the NDAA while ignoring “the nation’s most urgent national security crisis.”
The Hill reported that Thune changed his vote from “yes” to “no” in a procedural move that would allow him to bring the motion back to the floor at a later time, after the vote failed to reach 60.
Al Jazeera described outside pressure as a coalition of 14 civil liberties, foreign policy and anti-war organizations urging lawmakers to oppose advancing the NDAA unless senators were guaranteed a vote on an amendment barring funding for what they described as Trump’s unauthorised war against Iran.
Al Jazeera also said the Senate version triggered backlash over measures that would deepen US military and intelligence ties with Israel, including “data fusion,” which Human Rights Watch defined in June as combining feeds from multiple sensors and intelligence sources into a single targeting picture.
In the same coverage, Al Jazeera reported that a separate measure in the 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act would expand intelligence sharing with Israel, and it quoted Van Hollen asking, “Why would the United States Congress order the executive branch to share more intelligence regardless of what the government of Israel is doing?”
What comes next
With the Senate vote blocking debate, the NDAA’s path depends on whether the motion can be brought back later, after Thune’s procedural switch from “yes” to “no” underlined that the bill had not cleared the threshold needed to advance.
The Hill said the legislation advanced out of the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 11 with a bipartisan 18-9 vote, but the partisan battle lines hardened as Republican and Democratic negotiators failed to reach agreement on top-line defense and non-defense spending levels.
Al Jazeera said Democrats also objected to provisions that would deepen US military and intelligence cooperation with Israel, including the Pentagon’s coordination role for joint weapons research, production, and integration of each country’s technologies into the other’s military systems.
The Hill reported that Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker called the Democratic vote to block the defense bill from coming up for debate “unprecedented,” and he said it reflected “a decision and a mindset on the part of Sen. Schumer not to cooperate at all.”
Al Jazeera added that Democrats’ opposition reflected a broader shift within the Democratic Party, citing a Reuters/Ipsos poll that said Israel’s favourability rating among Democrats dropped from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May ahead of the November midterm elections.
