Kaine Files Additional View on Annual Defense Bill Over Objection to Iran War

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), filed the following additional view in the Committee's conference report for the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorizing Act (NDAA), which Kaine voted against advancing due to the Trump-Vance Administration's ongoing illegal and foolish war with Iran:

"I've been a proud member of the Senate Armed Services Committee for more than 13 years. My work on the Committee is the highlight of my Senate service because of my deep connection to Virginia's military families and my deep respect for my colleagues.

"The process that our Committee uses to carefully craft the National Defense Authorization Act-months of hearings to consider all dimensions of our nation's security challenges followed by a markup in which all members have the opportunity to shape the final product-is a model for how the Senate should operate. The leadership of the Committee, Senators Wicker and Reed, have ably carried out this long tradition whereby SASC is the only committee to do an authorizing bill every year and they do so in a way that guarantees significant bipartisan approval.

"I've always voted for the NDAA in Committee and on the floor of the Senate. The bill is never perfect-often omitting items I advocated or including items I opposed. But it is usually so full of good provisions that a yes vote has always been an easy call. This year, for the first time, I voted against the NDAA. I did so with deep regret. I file this dissenting perspective to explain why.

"This NDAA is much like earlier versions in containing solid policy, including many provisions I worked to include as the lead Democrat on the Seapower Subcommittee. Just as in past years, the Committee's leadership and dedicated staff put together a process that maximized inclusion of content from all members. In virtually every particular, this NDAA represents "business as usual" from a Committee for whom that phrase is actually a high compliment rather than a casual throwaway line.

"But an exemplary process cannot obscure the fact that the times are anything but usual. Since last year's NDAA, our situation has changed dramatically. The United States is in the middle of an illegal and foolish war with Iran, initiated by the President for spurious reasons, that is harming our troops and causing massive damage to American families and the global economy. The United States is bombing boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and killing those aboard in a campaign described as an 'international armed conflict' against narco-traffickers even though many of these fatal strikes are carried out against boats containing no drugs. The United States invaded Venezuela to topple the Maduro regime, but has left the regime in place and thus far denied the legitimate political opposition the opportunity to build a Venezuela for Venezuelans. And the President has threatened military action against other nations-Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Denmark-with more such threats likely to emerge at any given moment based on his whims and personal grievances.

"All these Presidential actions to initiate armed conflict here, there, and everywhere have been unilateral decisions taken without the consultation with Congress required by the Constitution. The President has chosen to make Congress a bystander in matters of war and, thus far, Congress has passively accepted that evisceration of its most solemn obligation.

"This year's NDAA shows no self-awareness of this growing power grab by the executive branch and, in my view, even paves the way for more unilateral executive control over matters of war. To begin, the Administration proposes a massive increase in the Defense budget-growing the topline from $850 billion to $1.14 trillion while additionally seeking $350 billion more via reconciliation and hinting at a future supplemental request likely to add an additional $200 billion to the defense budget. This is a staggering increase of funding for Defense, particularly when counterposed with the sizable cuts being made to Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, and other programs relied upon by everyday Americans-and the fact that Social Security's trust fund is expected to be depleted by the end of 2032.

"Efforts to amend the bill to fence off funds for the Iran war-at least until Congress authorizes it-failed, as did efforts to simply get accurate information about the war's costs. Efforts to provide protection against other threatened abuses, such as the deployment of the military to polling places during elections, failed. This NDAA would swell the Defense budget at the very moment when Congress shows a determined unwillingness to exercise any meaningful check on how the President uses the nation's military might.

"The most telling single item in this year's NDAA, even beyond the dramatic increase in spending, is the provision ordering that the Department of Defense be renamed the "Department of War." The United States long had a Secretary of War, but President Truman and Congress, reflecting on the devastation of World War II, chose to embrace Defense rather than War as the descriptor of our national security mission, a change that closely matches the oaths still taken by all who wear the uniform of this country. The United States shouldn't prefer war. We must be committed to defense of our nation, our people, our allies and our values and, if that requires war, we must always be prepared and ready to succeed. But war is not the goal and it never should be.

"When the United States embraced the 'Department of Defense' nomenclature in 1947, we inspired other nations to do the same. Allies like the United Kingdom and France, former adversaries like Japan and Germany, current adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran-they now all have Defense agencies rather than War agencies. The word "war" in the title of a nation's defense ministry is essentially extinct in the modern world. If the NDAA passes with this change intact, the United States will stand alone as the sole nation advertising War as the mission of its military. This unique status will be a stain on our country's reputation and will certainly be used by our adversaries in propaganda to isolate us from other nations.

"The proposed change embraced by SASC reveals something sad about our nation's leadership at the current moment. A President who promised to end wars has transformed into one intoxicated by war. He is not the first leader to go down that path and won't be the last. But that's why our forefathers rejected tyranny 250 years ago to create a democracy whereby the legislative branch could serve as a check against the natural tendency of an executive to seize more and more power. Because this year's NDAA doesn't recognize the gravest threat facing our nation at this moment, I cannot support it."

Video of Kaine discussing his vote is available here.

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