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Senate

National Defense Authorization Act (Executive Session)

2026-07-15 Issue 115 Showing 1–1 of 1

Official Congressional Record ↗

John Thune

Republican

“You can't trust Democrats on defense. Democrats voted against our bill for military spending. The bill had some good things for the military. It had more money and ships and planes. Democrats still voted against it. Democrats don't care about security. Democrats shut down the government before. They didn't fund Homeland Security before. They don't care if our country is weak.”

Official Congressional Record

Mr. President, Americans tend to trust Republicans more than Democrats when it comes to national security. And, boy oh boy, do Democrats seem determined to demonstrate why that is the case. Yesterday afternoon, Democrats voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill that authorizes spending for our Nation's defense. Their ostensible excuse was the conflict in Iran. Well, in case they were operating under a misconception, I am happy to tell them that this year's National Defense Authorization Act is not an Iran funding supplemental. It is the annual--annual--legislation authorizing the basic needs of our military and the basic needs of our men and women in uniform, needs that exist no matter what is happening in Iran. Let's just talk about what the Democrats voted against yesterday. They voted against a pay increase for our troops. They voted against quality-of-life improvements for our troops. They voted against the reform of the Pentagon's acquisition process. They voted against funding for unmanned systems like drones and counter-drone measures, an essential--essential--security need in this day and age. They voted against shipbuilding efforts to strengthen our naval fleet. They voted against measures to maintain our Nation's airpower. They voted against including 38 of their own amendments. I could go on here, but you get the point. Once again, Democrats are playing fast and loose with our Nation's security. I say ``once again'' because Democrats have been playing fast and loose with our Nation's security all year. First, there was their recordbreaking full government shutdown last fall, which affected our military and all of our Nation's security Agencies, to say nothing of the impact that it had on air travel. Then there was their recordbreaking shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which lasted a staggering 76 days. Then, after that, Democrats refused to reauthorize a critical intelligence-gathering tool, which the Democrat leader himself has described as ``a very important tool for ensuring our national security.'' And now they have blocked the Senate from considering the National Defense Authorization Act. And who knows what is next? In either a fit of self-delusion or an attempt to distract from their actions, Democrats are trying to peddle the narrative that somehow they can't agree to anything because Republicans are trying to make things partisan. That is right. Well, let me spend just a minute correcting the record here. The National Defense Authorization Act the Democrats voted against yesterday? Bipartisan. That is right. The National Defense Authorization Act is bipartisan legislation. Four Democrats voted for the bill--for the bill--at the committee markup. Democrats' recordbreaking full government shutdown in the fall? Well, that was because they wouldn't accept a nonpartisan, short-term, clean government funding extension to allow bipartisan negotiations to continue. The Democrats' recordbreaking Department of Homeland Security shutdown? Well, that was also because Democrats couldn't take yes for an answer. Democrats and Republicans had agreed on a bipartisan DHS funding bill. Democrats reneged on that agreement because they wanted to negotiate for more, and Republicans said yes to negotiation. And then Democrats shut down the Department anyway, even though Republicans were willing to negotiate further--even though the White House repeatedly offered a robust package of reforms. So as I said, I don't know whether it is self-delusion or deliberate deception, but I have heard few things more ludicrous than Democrats' narrative that they can't agree to legislation because Republicans are being partisan. Here are the facts: Democrats can't bring themselves to authorize funding for our Nation's security, whether that is security at our border, funding for our military, or paychecks for our troops. It doesn't matter how bipartisan the bill is; Democrats can't bring themselves to support our Nation's security. Is it politics? Do Democrats think that voting against our national defense and our Nation's military will gain them points with their base or do they simply think they can afford to ignore our Nation's defense needs until some hostile actor takes advantage of our weakness? I don't know, but I do know that our Nation is less safe because of Democrats' actions. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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