'Complete capitulation' by Democrats on NDAA

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) (pointing finger) led the fight in the House to pass the NDAA.  He was a leading proponent of Trump's Space Force proposal that was included in the NDAA.

The House voted yesterday to approve the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2020 with the Senate expected to soon follow.  The final tally was 377-48 with 188 Democrats voting in favor of the massive military authorization.

See the final voting list here
 

What didn’t make it into the bill: Major Democratic provisions to block money for a border wall, require congressional approval for war with Iran, block the Pentagon from deploying low-yield nuclear warheads on submarines, overturn the Trump administration's transgender troop ban and withdraw U.S. support from Yemen's civil war were all left on the cutting room floor.

Blank check: Nearly three dozen progressive and anti-war groups railed against the NDAA for not doing enough to check Trump, arguing the final bill "no longer represents a compromise, but a near complete capitulation."

"This bill authorizes $738 billion in Pentagon dollars with almost nothing to constrain the Trump administration’s erratic and reckless foreign policy," the groups said in a statement. "It is a blank check for endless wars, fuel for the further militarization of U.S. foreign policy, and a gift to Donald Trump."

One with the force: Vice President Mike Pence said that the creation of the Space Force in the NDAA is a major victory.

“One administration after another have observed the lack of a coherent and unified command, and President Trump’s direction from early on was to establish the Space Force to bring together all those disparate interests," he said.

And while the new service will be under the Air Force, Pence said he believes it could grow to become its own independent service, like the Air Force did when it split from the Army.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) recently spoke at an American Enterprise Institute. When Smith took a question about US support for the Saudi led war in Yemen, he said, "There is nothing we are going to pass in Congress that’s going to stop the war in Yemen."

Smith called the NDAA legislation “the most progressive defense bill in the history of the country.”

"There are many things you can call the bill, but it's Orwellian to call it progressive," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). "We can't just rhetorically give standing ovations when the president says we're going to end endless wars and continue to vote to fund them."

Many Democrats in Congress have been eager to claim that the Space Force was their own agenda.

“Trump’s belated support for a Space Force does not make this a Republican idea,” said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who chairs the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee.

Wow! All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! Congress – don’t delay this anymore! I will sign this historic defense legislation immediately!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2019