Senate Democrats block defense bill amid Iran war dispute
Democrats stopped the Senate from taking up the NDAA, citing Iran operations, Israel provisions and the size of Trump’s military budget.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Senate Democrats blocked the chamber from opening debate on the annual defense policy bill on Tuesday, stalling legislation that often ranks among Congress’s hardest to avoid. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Democrats objected to President Donald Trump’s military operations in Iran and to provisions expanding US military and intelligence links with Israel.
The Senate voted 50-46 against moving ahead with debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. The motion needed 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber, and the vote fell almost entirely along party lines.
The NDAA would authorize much of a $1.15 trillion military budget proposed by Trump, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The failed procedural vote marked a rare setback for the annual defense bill, which is one of the few major pieces of legislation Congress is generally expected to pass each year.
Democrats cite Iran and Israel provisions
Democrats argued that Congress should not advance the legislation while Trump escalates the war in Iran, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Some Democratic senators also opposed provisions that would deepen cooperation between the United States and Israel on military and intelligence matters.
Other Democrats raised objections to the size of the proposed Pentagon budget, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. The bill was tied to a military spending plan that would reach a record level under Trump’s proposal.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Democrats to vote against advancing the measure. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Schumer called the bill “a permission slip” for the Trump administration to keep carrying out military operations in Iran without congressional oversight.
“Republicans want the Senate to take up the NDAA … as though Congress can debate the nation’s central national security bill while ignoring the nation’s most urgent national security crisis,” Schumer said before the vote, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. “We cannot.”
Outside groups push for war-powers vote
Pressure also came from outside Congress. A coalition of 14 civil liberties, foreign policy and anti-war organizations urged lawmakers to oppose advancing the NDAA unless senators were guaranteed a vote on an amendment restricting funding for what the groups described as Trump’s unauthorized war against Iran, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
The coalition included the American Civil Liberties Union, J Street, CODEPINK and Win Without War, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. The groups argued that Congress should use its constitutional power over federal spending to assert its role in decisions about war.
The vote leaves Senate leaders without an immediate path to begin debate on the defense bill, based on the tally reported by Al Jazeera and Reuters. Any renewed attempt to move the NDAA forward would require winning over enough senators to reach the 60-vote threshold.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.