{"id":45670,"date":"2025-12-18T13:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45670"},"modified":"2025-12-18T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:23:18","slug":"majority-of-democrats-join-senate-gop-to-pass-trumps-900-billion-pentagon-wish-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/18\/majority-of-democrats-join-senate-gop-to-pass-trumps-900-billion-pentagon-wish-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Majority of Democrats Join Senate GOP to Pass Trump\u2019s $900 Billion Pentagon Wish List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Aerial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An aerial view of the US Department of Defense headquarters, also known as the Pentagon, in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ron Wyden said the bill \u201cincreases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump and Hegseth\u2019s authoritarian abuses.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 17, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A majority of Democratic senators joined Republicans<\/a> on Wednesday to pass the largest military spending bill<\/a> in US history, handing President Donald Trump<\/a> the bulk of his demands, even as he enacts steep cuts across nearly every other sector of the federal budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more than $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed<\/a> by a vote of 77-20, with 27 Democrats, as well as the independent Sen. Angus King (Maine<\/a>), in support. Just three members of the Republican majority voted against the bill, along with 16 Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (Vt.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"F-35s<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Don\u2019t Give the Pentagon $1 Trillion,\u2019 Critics Say as House Passes Record US Military Spending Bill<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"House<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mike Johnson Touts $901 Billion Military Budget Plan After Gutting Medicaid, SNAP<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Among many other items<\/a> on Trump\u2019s wish list, the bill provides funds for weapons meant to counter China, full funding for Trump\u2019s National Guard deployments to support the US immigration<\/a> agents, and more funds for what are described as \u201ccounternarcotics operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also removes a measure that would have restored collective bargaining rights that Trump stripped<\/a> earlier this year from Pentagon<\/a> employees, permanently ends Defense Department initiatives to curb climate change<\/a>, and excludes a measure that would mandate healthcare<\/a> coverage for in vitro fertilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined with $156 billion in the GOP\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act this July, the package passed by the Senate pushes<\/a> military spending<\/a> for fiscal year 2026 into the trillions\u2014a new record in absolute terms and a relative level unseen since World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill will head to Trump\u2019s desk just a day after he announced<\/a> a \u201ctotal and complete blockade\u201d on Venezuelan oil<\/a> tankers, a major escalation described by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) as \u201cunquestionably an act of war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill contains a measure demanding that the Pentagon release the unedited video of a September 2 \u201cdouble-tap\u201d strike<\/a> on a boat in the Caribbean that members of both parties have suggested may violate international law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> declined<\/a> another congressional request to release the video. The defense bill ramps up the pressure for transparency, mandating a 25% cut to Hegseth\u2019s travel budget if the administration does not comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Democrats have previously voted in support of war powers resolutions to require congressional approval for Trump\u2019s boat strikes and for further military action against Venezuela<\/a>. These measures have repeatedly fallen just short <\/a>in the Republican-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Stephen Semmler, a co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, argued<\/a> that \u201cif the Senate truly cared about Trump seeking congressional approval before starting a war with Venezuela, it wouldn\u2019t have passed a bill authorizing $901 billion in military spending.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>Sen. Ron Wyden<\/a> (D-Ore.), who voted no on the defense spending bill, said, \u201cI cannot support a bill that increases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump<\/a> and Hegseth\u2019s authoritarian abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald Trump has repeatedly used the military to occupy major US cities, including Portland\u2014endangering our service members, disrupting our economy, and eroding trust in our communities,\u201d Wyden continued. \u201cHe has also shown that he will use the Department of Defense to conduct deadly military operations without congressional authorization to intimidate political opponents and immigrants through the military, to purge senior military leaders without cause, to funnel billions of dollars in contracts to his personal supporters, and to waste billions of taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense spending bill passed<\/a> the US House<\/a> last week, with support from 115 Democrats. This was despite opposition from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose deputy chair, Rep. Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.), said it was \u201cenabling unchecked executive war powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House is expected to vote Wednesday evening on a\u00a0pair of war powers resolutions<\/a>. One, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), would block Trump\u2019s extrajudicial airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean. Another bipartisan resolution would require Trump to receive congressional approval before taking direct military action, including land strikes, against Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An aerial view of the US Department of Defense headquarters, also known as the Pentagon, in Washington, DC. \u00a0(Photo by Getty Images) Sen. Ron Wyden said the bill \u201cincreases military spending by tens of billions of dollars and fails to include guardrails against Donald Trump and Hegseth\u2019s authoritarian abuses.\u201d Stephen… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45670"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45671,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45670\/revisions\/45671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}