Civic Register
| 7.22.20

Congress Offers Bipartisan Rejection of Progressives' 10% Defense Spending Cut - Do You Support a 10% Cut?

Do you support cutting the defense budget by 10%?

UPDATE - 7/22/20: Senate rejects 10% defense spending cut.

  • In a 23-77 vote, the Senate rejected the amendment offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) to cut defense spending by 10%, or about $74 billion in fiscal year 2021.
  • No Republicans voted in favor of the Sanders amendment, which was supported by nearly half of the Senate's Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
  • Of the Democratic senators rumored to currently be on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's short-list of vice presidential picks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was the only to vote in favor of the Sanders amendment, whereas Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) were among the 24 Democrats to oppose the amendment.

UPDATE - 7/21/20: House rejects Progressive Caucus's 10% cut to defense spending.

  • In a 93-324 vote, the House of Representatives reject the Congressional Progressive Caucus's NDAA amendment that would cut defense spending by 10%.
  • The amendment was opposed by 185 Republicans and 139 Democrats, while 92 Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI) supported the 10% cut.

What’s the story?

  • Progressive Democrats in Congress are calling for cuts to defense spending as lawmakers in both chambers consider their initial versions of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week.
  • Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are set to force votes in the House & Senate on amendments that would cut authorized defense spending by 10% for fiscal year 2021. The 10% cut would be applied to parts of the Dept. of Defense budget but would exclude defense healthcare programs, military personnel, or DOD civil service workers.
  • The NDAA is arguably the most bipartisan legislation that Congress undertakes on an annual basis ― the House bill reached the floor after a 56-0 vote in committee while the Senate bill passed committee on a 25-2 vote. 
  • Both bills would authorize about $740 billion in defense spending for FY2021 ― so the cuts proposed by progressives’ amendments would total roughly $74 billion over the next fiscal year. The current House & Senate versions of the NDAA represent a cut of about $10 billion in funding from FY2020.

What’s happening in Congress?

  • The House is set to vote Tuesday on an amendment offered by CPC Co-Chair Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to implement the 10% defense spending cut. 
  • While it’s possible that enough House Democrats vote in favor of the amendment that it would be adopted, it is unlikely to gain Republican support, so the CPC can only lose the support of 16 Democrats if all members vote.
  • The Senate version of the amendment was introduced by the CPC’s lone Senate member, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and cosponsored by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). It’s expected to get a vote later this week before the Senate votes on passage of its version of the NDAA.


— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery via Flickr / Creative Commons)