The Senate voted 50-46 to block consideration of the annual defense bill on war spending and defense cooperation with Israel.
U.S. Senate Democrats blocked consideration of the annual defense policy bill, opposing not only President Donald Trump’s war against Iran but also provisions that would more closely integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries.
The Senate voted almost along party lines Tuesday against beginning consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an unusual setback for one of Congress’ few essential bills.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The annual defense policy bill aimed to approve most of President Trump’s proposed $1.15 trillion military budget. The motion needed 60 votes to pass in the 100-member Senate.
Democrats argued that Congress should not move forward with the bill while President Trump escalates the war against Iran. Some party members also opposed provisions that would deepen U.S. military and intelligence cooperation with Israel, as well as the Pentagon’s record-breaking budget.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Democrats to oppose the bill, saying it “authorizes” the Trump administration to continue military operations against Iran without congressional oversight.
“Republicans want to take up the NDAA in the Senate…as if Congress can consider a national security bill that is at the heart of the nation while ignoring the nation’s most pressing national security crises,” Schumer said before the vote. “I can’t do that.”
Outside Congress, a coalition of 14 freedom, foreign affairs, and anti-war groups also called on lawmakers to oppose moving forward with the NDAA unless senators are guaranteed a vote on an amendment that would prohibit President Trump from funding an unauthorized war against Iran.
The coalition, made up of the American Civil Liberties Union, J Street, CODEPINK, and Win Without War, argued that Congress should use its constitutional “power of the purse” to exercise its power over war decisions.
But the war with Iran is just one of several reasons why the bill met with opposition.
The version in the Senate also sparked a backlash against the measure, which would deepen ties between America’s military and intelligence agencies and Israel.
One key provision would require the Pentagon to appoint an official to coordinate between the United States and Israel on defense technology. It includes joint weapons research, production, and the integration of each country’s technology into the other’s military systems.
The provision also calls for controversial “data fusion,” which Human Rights Watch defined in June as combining feeds from multiple sensors and information sources into a single targeting image.
The group said the deal could allow the United States to absorb Israeli intelligence that may have been collected through what it called problematic mass surveillance programs.
Another measure in the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2027, typically considered alongside the NDAA, would expand intelligence sharing with Israel.
Democratic opposition party
Several Democratic senators, including Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, and Peter Welch, wrote to other senators last week urging them not to move forward with the NDAA before the bill is debated.
“As Senate Democrats, we should not provide the votes to force (President Trump) to deepen ties between the United States and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government,” the senators wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter, urging their colleagues to oppose moving forward with the bill.
In a video posted to X ahead of the vote, Van Hollen argued that the bill would pave the way for a “bloated budget” for the Pentagon and would “uncheck President Trump’s illegal war against Iran.” He also cited provisions regarding Israel that “get little attention and seem to be quietly slipping by.”
“Why would the U.S. Congress order the executive branch to share more information, regardless of what the Israeli government is doing?” he asked.
Senate Democrats’ efforts reflect a broader shift within the Democratic Party, where support for Israel is surging ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Israel’s favorability ratings among Democrats fell from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May, according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll.
