Bloat and ‘Bigotry’: Six Democrats Join With House GOP to Pass $833 Billion Pentagon Budget – By Julia Conley (Common Dreams) / June 15, 2024
“The far-right extremists in Congress and their enablers have made their values clear: bigotry over inclusivity, security, and our climate.”
Previewing what one anti-war group called “a terrifying, hate-driven vision of a U.S. government under undivided conservative control,” the Republican-controlled U.S. House on Friday not only passed its latest military spending package of nearly $1 trillion, but included a number of amendments attacking the bodily autonomy and other rights of service members.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed in the House largely along party lines, with 217 voting for the $884 billion package and 199 voting against it.
Six Democrats—Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Donald Davis (N.C.), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Mary Peltola (Alaska), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wa.)—joined with the Republican majority to help pass the measure.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, once again noted her disapproval of a bill that places military spending over “investments in domestic priorities, from education to housing, healthcare to childcare,” as she has in previous years—but the annual Pentagon funding package drew additional ire for its inclusion of amendments related to abortion rights, transgender healthcare, and other culture war battles.
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