Yesterday, the House voted on the conference report for the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.
The US has the largest military budget in the world. It is larger than those of the next nine countries combined.
The Pentagon is also notoriously wasteful and has consistently avoided a federal audit.
There are roughly 800 US military bases in foreign countries despite the fact that the US faces no existential threats.
But, to Congress, the military always needs more money.
Congressional Republicans, who have no problem with sequestration cuts on social programs, hate sequestration cuts on the Pentagon. So, as a trick to get around them, they put $89.2 billion in the unaccountable slush fund called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). This is on top of the already bloated base budget of $515 billion.
The FY16 NDAA, of course, also imposes more unnecessary restrictions on releasing/transferring prisoners out of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, further entrenching a moral and constitutional abomination that undermines US security abroad.
The House Democratic leadership urged members to vote no, mainly out of opposition to the OCO gimmick. The president has issued a veto threat although, as always, he has absolutely no intention of carrying through with it.
The final vote was 270 to 156.
233 Republicans and 37 Democrats voted for it. 146 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted against it.
Here are the 37 Democrats:
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Tulis Gabbard (HI-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Mark Takai (HI-01)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
This number is slightly down from the NDAA vote taken in May, when 41 Democrats joined the GOP.
6 Democrats who voted for the NDAA in May voted against it today:
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
Joe Larson (CT-01)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Two Democrats--Sanford Bishop (GA-02) and John Garamendi (CA-03)--flipped their votes in favor.
Here are the 10 Republicans who voted against the NDAA today:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Jimmy Duncan (TN-02)
Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
Tim Huelskamp
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Raul Labrador (ID-01)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
This is a slight increase from the 8 who voted against it in May. Huelskamp and Rohrabacher flipped their votes in favor, Curt Clawson (FL-19) flipped his votes against, and Mick Mulvaney--who was not in attendance for the May vote--joined the NO camp.
The US has the largest military budget in the world. It is larger than those of the next nine countries combined.
The Pentagon is also notoriously wasteful and has consistently avoided a federal audit.
There are roughly 800 US military bases in foreign countries despite the fact that the US faces no existential threats.
But, to Congress, the military always needs more money.
Congressional Republicans, who have no problem with sequestration cuts on social programs, hate sequestration cuts on the Pentagon. So, as a trick to get around them, they put $89.2 billion in the unaccountable slush fund called Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). This is on top of the already bloated base budget of $515 billion.
The FY16 NDAA, of course, also imposes more unnecessary restrictions on releasing/transferring prisoners out of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, further entrenching a moral and constitutional abomination that undermines US security abroad.
The House Democratic leadership urged members to vote no, mainly out of opposition to the OCO gimmick. The president has issued a veto threat although, as always, he has absolutely no intention of carrying through with it.
The final vote was 270 to 156.
233 Republicans and 37 Democrats voted for it. 146 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted against it.
Here are the 37 Democrats:
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Tulis Gabbard (HI-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Donald Norcross (NJ-01)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Kathleen Rice (NY-04)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Mark Takai (HI-01)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
This number is slightly down from the NDAA vote taken in May, when 41 Democrats joined the GOP.
6 Democrats who voted for the NDAA in May voted against it today:
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
Joe Larson (CT-01)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Two Democrats--Sanford Bishop (GA-02) and John Garamendi (CA-03)--flipped their votes in favor.
Here are the 10 Republicans who voted against the NDAA today:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Jimmy Duncan (TN-02)
Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
Tim Huelskamp
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Raul Labrador (ID-01)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
This is a slight increase from the 8 who voted against it in May. Huelskamp and Rohrabacher flipped their votes in favor, Curt Clawson (FL-19) flipped his votes against, and Mick Mulvaney--who was not in attendance for the May vote--joined the NO camp.
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