The House has now passed the FY 2017 NDAA and military appropriations bills, but I wanted to highlight some key amendments.
Several amendments were introduced to curtail the country’s bloated military budget. Each one failed—by a large margin.
A 1% Cut Is Too Much for Too Many in Congress
Jared Polis offered an amendment to reduce the base Defense Department budget by 1% excluding military/reserve/National Guard personnel, as well as the Defense Health Program account.
It failed 63 to 360. Donna Edwards (MD-04) voted present. 60 Democrats and 3 Republicans voted for it. 121 Democrats and 239 Republicans voted against it.
Here the 60 Democrats:
Karen Bass (CA-37)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Tony Cardenas (CA-29)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Judy Chu (CA-32)
Katherine Clark (MA-05)
Yvette Clarke (NY-09)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
Alan Grayson (FL-09)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
Bill Keating (MA-09)
Robin Kelly (IL-02)
Dan Kildee (MI-05)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
John Lewis (GA-05)
Ted Lieu (CA-33)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Charlie Rangel (NY-13)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40)
Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Jackie Speier (CA-14)
Mark Takano (CA-41)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
Frederica Wilson (FL-24)
John Yarmuth (KY-03)
The three Republicans were Michael Burgess (TX-26), Jimmy Duncan (TN-02), and Todd Rokita (IN-04).
Tackling the Pentagon’s Slush Fund
Mick Mulvaney (SC_05) offered a series of four amendments aimed at eliminating the funding for Overseas Contingency Operations, the Pentagon’s unaccountable war-making slush fund.
His first amendment was to strike the paragraph providing funding for Army military construction in Title IV (the part of the bill authorizing the OCO).
It failed 52 to 372. 28 Republicans and 24 Democrats voted for it. 214 Republicans and 158 Democrats voted against it.
Here are the 24 Democrats:
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Alan Grayson (FL-09)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Ted Lieu (CA-33)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
His second amendment sought to strike the paragraph providing funding for Navy and Marine Corps construction contained in Title IV.
It failed 51 to 371. 21 Democrats and 30 Republicans voted for it. 160 Democrats and 211 Republicans voted against it.
The 21 Democrats were the 24 who voted for Mulvaney’s first amendment minus Grijalva, Tonko, and Waters.
His third amendment was to strike the paragraph providing funding for Air Force construction in Title IV.
It failed 56 to 363. 25 Democrats and 31 Republicans voted for it. 156 Democrats and 207 Republicans voted against it.
Again, it looked largely similar to the roll call of his first amendment.
However, Yvette Clarke (NY-09), John Lewis (GA-05), Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) joined in, and Raul Grijalva, Paul Tonko, and Maxine Waters defected.
His last amendment was to strike the paragraph providing for defense-wide military construction in Title IV.
The amendment failed 64 to 360. 31 Republicans and 33 Democrats voted for it. 210 Republicans and 150 Democrats voted against it.
Compared to his first amendment, this one lost three Democrats (Schrader, Tonko, and Waters), but then picked up an additional 12:
Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
Yvette Clarke (NY-09)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Eliot Engel (NY-16)
John Lewis (GA-05)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12)