The Senate on Tuesday failed to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The defense policy bill, which has a section that would integrate the United States and Israeli militaries, was blocked in a 50-46 vote.

Section Of Drafted 2027 NDAA Allegedly Would “Integrate/Synchronize” The United States And Israeli Militaries

It requires 60 votes to pass.

Al Jazeera explained further:

Democrats argued that Congress should not move ahead with the legislation while Trump escalates the war on Iran. Some members of the party also objected to provisions that would deepen US military and intelligence cooperation with Israel, as well as the record size of the Pentagon budget.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Democrats to oppose the bill, calling it “a permission slip” for the Trump administration to continue military operations against Iran without congressional oversight.

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“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. “We cannot.”

Outside Congress, a coalition of 14 civil liberty, foreign policy and antiwar organisations also urged 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.

“This National Defense Authorization fails to address the critical question that is before this country right now, and that is the war in Iran,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) said, according to The New York Times.

"This week the Senate will vote to merge our military’s most sensitive & secretive capabilities with Israel. This merger is buried within the massive NDAA and they’re hoping you won’t notice. Merging our military with a foreign country is a treasonous betrayal of our sovereignty," former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said on Monday.

"Call your senators & tell them to vote no on the NDAA until the merger w/ Israel (section 219) is taken out. Tell them that we will never support merging our military with a foreign nation," he added.

More from The New York Times:

Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and another member of the Armed Services Committee, likewise tied her opposition directly to the conflict.

“The Senate cannot authorize $1.14 trillion in defense spending — the largest defense budget ever proposed in our nation’s history — for Donald Trump to continue his illegal and disastrous war that Americans do not want,” she said in a statement.

“Simply throwing more money at an out-of-control military operation is not strategy; it’s a recipe for a forever war,” she added. “The stakes couldn’t be higher, and I cannot support a defense authorization bill that doesn’t include my amendment to end this illegal war.”

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Republicans countered that Democrats were jeopardizing one of Congress’s most important responsibilities by injecting unrelated political disputes into legislation that directs spending for the nation’s armed forces.

Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, a senior Republican on the Armed Services panel, accused Democrats of putting politics ahead of national security.

“It’s really disappointing,” Ms. Fischer said. “I think it shows just how much politics has gotten to the point that it’s putting our country’s security in jeopardy. They’re putting party above country.”

The failed procedural vote left uncertain when, or under what conditions, Senate leaders would be able to begin consideration of the defense policy bill.

 

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