OPINION — “Here on the House floor, we see when extreme MAGA (Make America Great Again), rightwing Republicans don’t get their way, when they lose overwhelmingly, they can’t accept a loss. They go to the Rules Committee and say: ‘Rig the process.’ Did Trump call them and tell them to do this? I mean, this is so unbelievably wrong.”
That was Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) during the House debate last Thursday afternoon, dealing with a difficult legislative situation involving $300 million in the fiscal 2024 Defense Appropriations Bill that was to pay for training Ukrainian troops, and to purchase U.S.-made munitions, spare parts for vehicles, weapon systems, and medical supplies for the Ukraine war after Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022.
That $300 million worth of aid to Ukraine became one of many amendments used by a handful of MAGA GOP House members to show their opposition to various Defense Department policies and aid to Ukraine.
Their efforts on the Defense funding bill were also an early battle in what became continued infighting amongst House Republicans.
On the Defense bill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave in to some of the MAGA Republican demands. But after McCarthy defeated those same MAGA Republicans Saturday in their attempt to shut down the government, it is still open as to what happens on this key defense funding bill.
I believe it’s worth looking at various amendments – cultural and otherwise – that they proposed to show how a minority of GOP legislators tried to press their MAGA political agenda on the military. It also illustrates how domestic political battles can at times, endanger serious national security programs.
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The MAGA Republicans focused on blocking funds for training Ukrainians and to combat climate change. In the cultural areas, they sought to end diversity programs and halt the Pentagon’s reproductive medical travel policy and medical care for transgender service personnel. They also tried to cut to $1, the annual salaries of top-ranking DoD officials whom they do not like.
Almost all of what they proposed was defeated or will be dropped, when the bill goes to conference with the Democrat-controlled Senate, but their actions threatened passage of the bill.
Let’s start with that $300 million for Ukraine training assistance, which I must point out was a program begun in 2017, under the Trump administration.
The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee last week, made two GOP amendments that were directed at the $300 million for Ukraine. The first to come up was from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who said in support of his amendment to eliminate the $300 million, “Mr. Chair, I find myself asking this question: How is it that we are willing to send over $100 billion to Ukraine, and in this bill an additional $300 million, but we can’t spend the money or find the ability and will, to secure our own border?” The Biggs amendment was not only opposed by Democrats, but also by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He pointed out, “This funding is not sent directly to Ukraine. Rather, it pays for training and procurement of U.S. equipment,” and had been authorized by Republican and Democratic Presidents since the Russian 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.
While the amendment initially was approved by voice vote, it was later reversed on a recorded vote of 330-to-104. The second amendment, from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), called for elimination from the bill of “any security assistance to Ukraine.” Gaetz argued, “We have problems here in America with our own borders. Americans are watching as foreign flags are being erected in the middle of the Rio Grande River while our Nation is being invaded by tens of thousands of people every month. Yet, we go spend all this money on the border of another country…Enough is enough. I am putting my countrymen first. I don’t think we should send another nickel to Ukraine.”
His amendment too, drew opposition from both Democrats and a Republicans, in this case from Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee member. He said, “The gentleman has often noted that funds used in support of Ukraine should go to securing our southern border. I argue that we should secure the border and partner with Ukraine to degrade Russia while never taking our eye off China…I do know that voting for this amendment will send the wrong message at the wrong time.” As with the Biggs amendment, the Gaetz amendment was initially approved by a voice vote, but then reversed when a recorded vote turned it down, 339-to-93. However, that was only the beginning.
It turned out that in order to get Republican votes for passage of the overall Defense Appropriations Bill – and particularly that of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — Speaker McCarthy ordered an unusual procedure. He wanted the House Rules Committee to make the removal of the $300 million for Ukraine from the Defense Appropriations Bill, and its introduction as a separate bill, to be voted on by the House last Thursday.
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Last Wednesday night, during a 9:30 p.m., one-hour, “emergency session” of the House Rules Committee, such a measure was debated and approved by a 9-to-4 party-line vote. Rep. McGovern, the ranking committee Democrat, pointed out that hours earlier, the House had defeated “overwhelmingly” two attempts to strip out the Ukraine training funding. McGovern went on, “And instead of accepting the loss, you are rigging the rules to ignore the will of the House. I mean what is it with these Republicans not being able to honor the results? Trumpism is alive and well here because you are trying here to overturn another vote.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Rules Committee, who voted in favor of the Ukraine $300 million, said the removal of the funds to a separate bill was “to allow again people to express their differences on a matter of conscience.” When the separate bill with the Ukraine $300 million came up for a vote last Thursday, not one MAGA Republican, not even Gaetz, stood up to speak against its approval and the bill passed 311-to-117.
Other MAGA GOP amendments included one by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) that would prohibit any Defense Department funds from carrying out President Biden’s executive orders on climatechange. Roy claimed, “Biden’s executive orders have served as the catalyst for massive reforms in the Department of Defense that compromise and undermine national security to advance a climate fetish.” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Wis.), ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said, “This amendment is needless, and makes it difficult for the Department of Defense to achieve its climate goals.”
She cited problems in Alaska where “they were dealing with permafrost now not being reliable to land planes on the runways that we have constructed. The Army Corps of Engineers is up there trying to figure out what they do about what is happening with the permafrost and the thawing that they are seeing.” On a voice vote, this amendment was agreed to and will have to be dealt with in conference.
Another amendment to be handled in conference is one offered by Rep. Greene that reduced the salary of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to $1, a salary cut that MAGA GOP members used in a number of cases. Greene claimed, “Secretary Austin has not fulfilled his job duties. As matter of fact, he is destroying our military.” She blamed Austin for the inability to meet recruitment goals, the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the discharge of 8,000 troops for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rep. McCollum said, “How disappointed I am that these types of amendments have been proposed by the majority, but especially this one.” She said Austin had served 41 years in the Army and rose from West Point to four-star general. “You may disagree with the administration’s policies,” McCollum said, “but Secretary Austin has done nothing to merit this amendment.” Again, this amendment was approved by voice vote and will have to be undone in conference.
Another attempt to cut a salary to $1 was aimed at Shawn Skelly, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, and the highest-ranking transgender official at the Pentagon. Skelly began her Navy career as a man, working as a pilot. It was at age 40, as a Navy commander directing a department-wide anti-roadside bomb program, when Skelly came to realize she no longer could identify as a man and that meant retiring from military service. After a period in industry, she joined the Obama Administration as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and in 2017, was named by Obama as a Commissioner on the newly-established National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.
It was an amendment offered by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) that was to cut Skelly’s salary to $1. In support of her proposal, Boebert said, “As DoD’s highest ranking trans official, this delusional man, thinking he is a woman, embodies and espouses the woke-ism that is causing significant harm to our military readiness and troop morale. The military shouldn’t be focused on this woke agenda and combating climate change. With Mr. Skelly at the helm of readiness, these misguided policy pursuits will continue to be at the forefront of DoD’s priorities.”
In opposing the amendment, Rep. McCollum said, “I am not going to engage in hateful rhetoric, Mr. Chair. Instead, I will focus on the admirable service that our transgender, gay, bisexual members do in an all-volunteer Army. They volunteer to put their lives on the line. They deserve the dignity and respect this House can give them.”
Although approved by a voice vote, a recorded vote was requested on Boebert’s amendment. When that took place last Wednesday evening, the Boebert amendment was rejected by House members in a vote of 150-to-282.
The continuing resolution passed by the House and Senate on September 30, and signed by President Biden, keeps DoD funding essentially at fiscal 2023 levels for the next 43 days.
The Senate has yet to act on the fiscal 2024 Defense Appropriations Bill, so the House version is in limbo. One thing that seems certain, is that nothing will happen on the Senate floor when the Pentagon money bill comes up, as happened last week, in the House.
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