35 House Republicans Vote Against 4,400-Page, $857.9 Billion Defense Bill: ‘Bloated and Irresponsible’

(CNSNews.com) – As the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023 comfortably passed through the House of Representatives on Dec. 8, 35 Republicans voted against the measure due to concerns about the bill’s fiscal implications, the inclusion of “woke” content, and potential threats to Second Amendment rights.

While 176 Republicans, joined by 174 Democrats, voted in favor of the NDAA, the following 35 Republicans voted against it:

Andy Biggs (Ariz.);

Gus Bilirakis (Fla.);

Dan Bishop (N.C.);

Mo Brooks (Ala.);

Ken Buck (Colo.);

Tim Burchett (Tenn.);

Madison Cawthorn (N.C.);

Ben Cline (Va.);

Michael Cloud (Texas);

Andrew Clyde (Ga.);

Warren Davidson (Ohio);

Byron Donalds (Fla.);

Louie Gohmert (Texas);

Bob Good (Va.);

Paul Gosar (Ariz.);

Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.);

H. Morgan Griffith (Va.);

Andy Harris (Md.);

Jody Hice (Ga.);

Clay Higgins (La.);

Tracey Mann (Kan.);

Thomas Massie (Ky.);

Tom McClintock (Calif.);

Alexander Mooney (W.Va.);

Troy Nehls (Texas);

Ralph Norman (S.C);

Scott Perry (Pa.);

Bill Posey (Fla.);

Tom Rice (S.C.);

Matthew Rosendale, Sr. (Mont.);

Chip Roy (Texas);

David Schweikert (Ariz.);

W. Gregory Steube (Fla.);

Thomas Tiffany (Wis.);

Jefferson Van Drew (N.J.).

Burchett said in a statement that he didn’t vote for the NDAA, because it “includes woke sections that focus on diversity and making the Department of Defense more climate friendly, but fails to do important things like reinstate servicemembers who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine or fully prohibit our government from buying drones made in China.”

Burchett also noted that this year’s NDAA was around 10 inches thick, as opposed to last year’s which was just two inches thick.

Roy described the NDAA as “a 4,408-page, $860 billion bill crafted behind closed doors, dropped on the House floor with less than 48 hours to read, and passed only by suspending the House’s normal rules,” and called it “an insult to our military and the American people.”

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Bilirakis pointed out various “poison pills” within the NDAA. These poison pills include “increased funding for Ukraine without strong measures to ensure transparency or accountability, further erosion of Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights, and overall increased spending levels without appropriate offsets.”

According to Clyde, “the NDAA squanders taxpayer dollars on Green New Deal initiatives, woke proposals, and foreign-aid programs.”

“Unfortunately, the NDAA diverts funds to defending the sovereignty of foreign countries like Jordan, Lebanon, and Ukraine instead of prioritizing our own national security and defense capabilities,” he added.

Gosar, who asserts that “not a single member of Congress read the legislation before voting on it,” given that the 4,400 page bill was introduced in less than 24 hours prior to voting, called the NDAA “immoral and ridiculous.”

“Because Congress is a broken institution,” Gosar continued, “the NDAA was once again used as a vehicle to load up with non-defense policies and unrelated partisan efforts.”

Meanwhile, Tiffany took issue with the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) refused to let Republicans offer amendments and only allowed 40 minutes for discussion of the bill. “The American people and our service members deserve an open and honest debate on such far-reaching legislation – what they got was procedural gimmicks designed to short-circuit the legislative process,” Tiffany said in a Dec. 8 statement.

The NDAA “promotes radical Green New Deal policies, implements anti-Second Amendment provisions which would increase the Federal government’s ability to track and control firearm ownership by servicemembers, and is a green light for the radical agenda for Secretary Austin and General Milley,” wrote Good in a statement.

“The misplaced priorities of the Biden Pentagon are contributing to a weakened national defense, diminished military readiness, and a dangerous inability to meet recruiting goals,” Good continued.

Bishop, who called the bill “bloated and irresponsible,” wrote in a statement that “the NDAA strips out important provisions that would end “Forever Wars,” continues the “woke” weaponization within the military, protects rogue FBI employees, authorizes a stealth gun control program, and in a ridiculous turn, contemplates coral reef resiliency, expands DOD’s climate change activism, and bans sales of certain shark fins.”

“This year’s defense bill is a perfect reminder of why Washington is broken,” said Nehls. After pointing to the NDAA’s exclusion of any provision that rehires servicemen who were fired due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and the inclusion of aid to Ukraine, Nehls wrote that he “voted no because our nation’s troops and taxpayers deserve better.”

“Funding our military is a critical function of Congress, but I refuse to vote for a bill that includes millions in unrelated spending for radical leftist policies and does not adequately help wrongly separated servicemembers,” wrote Rosendale.

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