Republican Leaders Mangle Bipartisan Defense Bill

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congress Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, issued the following statement after the House passed the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act. After Republican leaders allowed partisan poison pill amendments to be added to the NDAA, Courtney voted "no" on initial House-passage of the FY27 NDAA. To watch Courtney's floor speech urging against partisan poison amendments, click here. In June, following months of bipartisan work with his colleagues on the Armed Services Committee and the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Courtney voted to pass the bipartisan committee-passed (44-12) version of the FY27 NDAA. To read his statement on committee passage, click here.

"It is deeply unfortunate that, for the fourth year in a row, House Republican leadership has taken the bipartisan NDAA passed by the House Armed Services Committee and allowed extreme Members of their caucus to add partisan poison pills. Chief among these poison pills are the merger of the voter suppression bill, the SAVE Act, which has nothing to do with national defense, and an amendment to the bill which would cut health care services for military families. This amendment would degrade the coverage provided to families who sacrifice so much for our nation to a lower level than the coverage available to civilians in the private health insurance market. I cannot support today's distorted House floor-version of the bipartisan NDAA that we crafted, and that I voted to pass, in the Armed Services Committee.

"Despite the partisan poison pills, bipartisan efforts from the Seapower Subcommittee are successfully maintained in today's bill, including $27.6 billion for Navy submarine construction, expanding carrier, destroyer, and amphibious fleets, codifying new safety guidance for V-22 Ospreys, and increasing investments in our Navy's unmanned fleet. For AUKUS, today's bill includes authorization for the U.S. Navy to sell three in-service Virginia-class submarines to our great ally Australia and new flexibilities for the three AUKUS nations to collaborate on advanced missile capabilities.

"Thankfully, today's House passage of the NDAA is not the final word, but rather just one step in the larger process of this bill. The bill will now head into a conference period with the Senate, where I hope further deliberations will remove the SAVE Act, health care cuts for military families, and redirect wasteful funding for President Trump's 'One Big Battleship' so Congress can complete passage of an annual defense bill for the 66^th consecutive year."

Traditionally, following initial House-passage of the NDAA, the House and Senate have entered a conference period to resolve differences between each chamber's version of the bill. As Ranking Member of the Seapower and Project Forces Subcommittee, Courtney has served as active Member in the conference period before final House and Senate passage of the conferenced NDAA later in the calendar year.

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