On a Wednesday vote almost strictly split along partisan lines, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has advanced a landmark $1.15 trillion fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), HR 8800, advancing a package that has sparked fierce backlash over a divisive provision deepening U.S.-Israeli military cooperation and a last-minute partisan maneuver attaching a contentious voting policy measure to the must-pass national security legislation.
The final vote tally settled at 219 in favor to 206 opposed. Republicans backed the measure by an overwhelming 213-1 margin, with only Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie breaking with his party to vote no. On the Democratic side, five members crossed party lines to support the bill: North Carolina’s Don Davis, Jared Golden of Maine, California’s Adam Gray, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. Independent Representative Kevin Kiley of California also joined supporters of the legislation.
A core point of controversy centers on Section 219, a provision that formalizes deeper integration of U.S. and Israeli military research and development initiatives. Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California introduced an amendment to remove the provision from the final bill, but the House Rules Committee blocked any debate on the change, leaving Section 219 intact in the legislation sent to the Senate.
A second contentious provision, Section 622, also remains in the bill: the measure would expand and strengthen intelligence sharing cooperation with Israel, while rolling back existing restrictions on that partnership.
Critics across the progressive wing of the Democratic Party have launched sharp attacks on the Israel-focused provisions, framing the deeper integration as a threat to U.S. national sovereignty and democratic governance. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez labeled the full NDAA “an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy” ahead of the vote. Massie, the lone Republican opponent, added that the nation’s founding fathers “would be appalled at what Congress is doing now.” Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar went further, describing Section 219 as “an outrageous threat to our country’s security and autonomy,” and arguing that “Americans want no part in Netanyahu’s genocidal regime. Congress cannot continue to bankroll Israel’s campaign of violence.”
Following the House Rules Committee’s decision to block debate on the amendment, Khanna said that opponents would shift their focus to removing the provision during the conference committee process, where House and Senate negotiators will reconcile differences between the two chambers’ versions of the NDAA. “We need to now fight to strip this amendment in the conference between the House and the Senate,” Khanna said.
Beyond the controversy over Israel policy, the main driver of unified Democratic opposition was a procedural move by Republican leadership to attach the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to the defense spending bill. Championed by former President Donald Trump, the SAVE Act requires voters to provide formal proof of citizenship to register for federal elections. Democratic lawmakers universally condemned the decision to attach the hotly contested voting policy measure to a must-pass national security bill.
Another high-profile amendment, which would have permanently codified Trump’s prior executive order barring transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. military, was narrowly defeated after four Republican lawmakers broke ranks to vote against the provision: Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Lawler of New York, Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Kimberlyn Kay King-Hinds, and Guam Delegate James Moylan.
Now that the House has passed its version of the 2027 NDAA, the legislation moves to the U.S. Senate, where lawmakers will take up their own iteration of the defense spending package. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont reiterated widespread progressive opposition to the bill following the House vote, saying “Americans are saying loudly and clearly: No more US military support for the extremist Netanyahu government. That is why Congress must vote NO on the defense spending bill, which brings the US and Israeli militaries even closer together.”