{"id":582693,"date":"2023-07-14T03:58:24","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T00:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/gop-passes-amendments-that-threaten-to-doom-defense-bill\/"},"modified":"2023-07-14T03:58:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T00:58:24","slug":"gop-passes-amendments-that-threaten-to-doom-defense-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/gop-passes-amendments-that-threaten-to-doom-defense-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"#GOP passes amendments that threaten to doom defense bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/mccarthykevin_061223gn02_w.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>House adoption of conservative amendments to a defense bill has thrown the fate of the must-pass package into doubt, sparking widespread opposition from Democrats and putting new burdens on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to rally enough Republican votes to pass it through the lower chamber.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The threat to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is unusual for an annual legislative ritual that sets the budget for the nation\u2019s armed forces \u2014\u00a0and routinely enjoys broad bipartisan support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But this year, under pressure from hard-liners in his conference, McCarthy brought a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of controversial conservative amendments to the floor. Five of those measures \u2014\u00a0pertaining to explosive issues like abortion and transgender rights \u2014 were <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roved on largely partisan votes Thursday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The most consequential of those is an amendment that would reverse the Pentagon\u2019s policy to reimburse <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> expenses for service members who get abortions \u2013 a policy that has prompted Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to block hundreds of military promotions in the Senate in protest. Just two Republicans \u2013 Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and John Duarte (R-Calif.) \u2013 opposed that amendment, and Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) was the lone Democrat to vote \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats this week have specifically pointed to the proposal as a poison pill that would sink their support for the NDAA as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>The initial NDAA framework passed last month through the Armed Services Committee on a bipartisan, 58-to-1 vote, but the changes are already\u00a0prompting im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>te vows from Democrats of all stripes to oppose the final bill when it reaches the floor, perhaps as early as Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t doubt if there are a lot \u2014 a lot \u2014 of Democratic nos,\u201d said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), a centrist member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. \u201cDespite our belief in providing for the national defense, this is really a travesty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee, including ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) late Thursday said they would vote against the NDAA.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>They said the bill their committee approved \u201cno longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That would leave McCarthy scrambling to lock down more votes on his own side of the aisle in a razor-thin majority. But while most conservatives cheered the bill\u2019s rightward shift, other Republicans are vowing to vote against final passage after amendments to block Ukraine funding were excluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s funding for another war in a foreign country that is not our NATO ally, it doesn\u2019t make sense and I\u2019ve been saying that from the beginning. So I would have to be a no,\u201d Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>To pass the bill on Friday as planned, McCarthy and House GOP leaders will either have to count on Democrats to overlook the amendments pertaining to explosive social issues, or convince hardline conservative Republicans \u2014 including those who have opposed the NDAA in the past \u2014 to vote for it and ignore their concerns about U.S. support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said he has never voted in favor of the annual defense bill in the decade he has been in Congress, but in good <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for McCarthy, he said he\u2019s reconsidering this time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything up here is a crap sandwich. And this one\u2019s got some bread on it,\u201d Massie said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>In addition to the abortion provision, the chamber also adopted two transgender-related amendments: one would prohibit the health care program for active-duty service members from covering \u201csex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals,\u201d and the other calls for prohibiting gender transition procedures through the Exceptional Family Member Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Two more amendments led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) took aim at diversity initiatives and banned promotion of what many conservatives would call \u201cwoke\u201d ideas, specifically articulating prohibited topics like the U.S. being \u201ca fundamentally racist country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The approval of those measures drew outrage from Democrats, who accused GOP leaders of caving to their most conservative elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhere are the moderate Republicans? Do they exist anymore?\u201d asked Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), senior Democrat on the House Rules Committee.<\/p>\n<p>The conservatives dismissed those criticisms, accusing the Biden administration of forcing Congress\u2019s hand by adopting the social policies to begin with.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always funny to listen to my Democrat colleagues say that we\u2019re politicizing this somehow by injecting cultural issues, as if they\u2019re not driving the train on cultural issues over at DOD as we speak,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Earlier in the day, McCarthy had brushed off the prospect of controversial amendments on social issues complicating final passage of the NDAA, comparing the abortion travel expenses policy reversal to the Hyde Amendment, a policy rider approved annually for decades that bans taxpayer money from being spent on abortion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt simply means we won\u2019t spend taxpayer money on abortion. If you were the most extreme pro life or pro choice, that\u2019s the one thing everybody agreed to know for decades. So now, why are the Democrats becoming so extreme that they changed their position for decades?\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about amendments that gut diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, McCarthy said: \u201cDo they want Disneyland to train our military, or do they want a military that can defend the nation?\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>There are early signs that Republicans will put the blame on Democrats for any problems passing the bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019ll really show America that the Democrats are so extreme that they won\u2019t defend the military,\u201d McCarthy said of Democrats potentially voting against the NDAA over the amendments.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who has spent much of the year criticizing her own party for focusing on abortion, surprised observers on Thursday by voting in favor of the NDAA\u2019s abortion amendment. Afterwards, she said the amendment is irrelevant, because the Democratic-led Senate will strip it out, and accused House Democrats of abandoning the troops if they oppose the final bill over that provision.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not going to pass the Senate anyway; it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Mace said. \u201cSo if you vote against the NDAA, you\u2019re going to be voting against the men and women in uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The timing of the NDAA debate has been in flux all week as McCarthy and his leadership team struggled to devise an amendments strategy. Conservatives secured victory when the House Rules Committee \u2014\u00a0in the wee hours of Thursday morning \u2014\u00a0green-lit a batch of amendments that are poison pills for Democrats, coming after days of pressure from the House Freedom Caucus and their ideological allies.<\/p>\n<p>Some of those conservative members expressed support for the bill after approval of those amendments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) had said that reversing the abortion policy and blocking the Pentagon from paying for gender-affirming care were priorities for him \u2014 and after Thursday\u2019s votes, he plans to vote in favor of the bill on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>But securing the amendments votes, and seeing some of them pass, is not necessarily enough for all of the hard-ine Republicans to support the bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still leaning no,\u201d said Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). \u201cIt bothers me, the money that we continue to send to Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Republicans approved many of the more controversial amendments on Thursday the House overwhelmingly voted down a series of amendments pertaining to funding for Ukraine, leaving some GOP lawmakers uneasy.<\/p>\n<p>Greene said she will vote against the defense bill when it comes to the floor for a final vote because of her Ukraine \u201cred line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two Ukraine-related amendments sponsored by the Georgia lawmaker were shot down by both Democrats and Republicans: the first, which would strike $300 million of Ukraine funding authorization from the bill, failed 89-341, and the second, which called for striking the creation of a Center of Excellence in Ukraine, was rejected 95-332-2.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a great bill in so many ways and I want to vote for it, but leaving the money in there makes it something I can\u2019t vote for,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n<p>An amendment from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that would prohibit security assistance to Ukraine also failed in an overwhelming 70-358 vote.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, called the rejection of the Ukraine amendments \u201ca disappointment,\u201d but said the entire bill is improving. Whether or not he will support the package, however, is still up in the air.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if we\u2019re completely there,\u201d Perry said, \u201cbut I think it\u2019s improving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Updated at 10:36 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/defense\/4096784-gop-passes-amendments-that-threaten-to-doom-defense-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House adoption of conservative amendments to a defense bill has thrown the fate of the must-pass package into doubt, sparking widespread opposition from Democrats and putting new burdens on Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to rally enough Republican votes to pass it through the lower chamber.\u00a0 The threat to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":582694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/mccarthykevin_061223gn02_w.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134343,134353,140894,73798,99883,133498,35813,40445,134345,135899,135954],"class_list":["post-582693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-campaign","tag-court-battles","tag-dean-phillips","tag-defense","tag-henry-cuellar","tag-in-the-know","tag-kevin-mccarthy","tag-media","tag-state-watch","tag-thomas-massie","tag-tommy-tuberville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}