House Republicans Upend Bipartisan Process, Force a ‘No’ Vote on Annual Defense Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, issued the following statement after the House passed the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act. To watch Courtney’s Floor speech urging his colleagues to reject partisan poison pill amendments, click here. To read a statement from Courtney and the Democratic leadership on the Armed Services Committee, click here.

“Just weeks ago, the House Armed Services Committee overwhelmingly passed (57-1) the bipartisan FY25 National Defense Authorization Act that made transformational improvements for servicemembers’ quality of life and reversed the Navy’s decision to request just one Virginia Class submarine.  As Ranking Member of the Seapower panel, I enthusiastically supported that bill following our subcommittee’s months-long analysis to ensure this bill met our constitutional duty to provide and maintain a Navy.

“Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, extreme House Republicans have hijacked the Committee’s bipartisan package and loaded it up with poison pill amendments that upended the intent and purpose of the bill—national security. As amended, the bill would drastically limit access to reproductive health care for over 400,000 female servicemembers and reduce the scope of TRICARE health care coverage for servicemembers to a lower level than the coverage available to civilians in the private commercial health care market.

“I cannot justify supporting a distorted version of the bipartisan work we did in committee that sacrifices the freedom of those who defend our nation.

“Just as we saw last year, this vote today is just one step in a larger process. As a senior member of the Committee who has been a conferee in House-Senate negotiations for the last several years, I will once again do all I can to restore a bill that reflects the bipartisan model demonstrated by the House Armed Services Committee.”

Background on Last Year’s NDAA Process

• In June 2023, the House Armed Services Committee overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan NDAA by a vote of 58-1.
• In July 2023, the bill went to the House Floor and was amended by House Freedom Caucus Members who added poison pill provisions. The bill passed 219-210.
• Throughout the Fall of 2023, Rep. Courtney was an active member of negotiations on the Conference Committee for the FY24 NDAA.
• In December 2023 following successful Conference negotiations to strip out poison pills, the House passed the FY24 NDAA which reflected the bipartisan product that was originally passed out of the House Armed Services Committee in June 2023. The final bill passed 310-118, a far larger bipartisan coalition.

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