Meet The Democrats Who Voted For The NDAA And SAVE Act … And The Republicans Who Voted Against Them

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Meet The Democrats Who Voted For The NDAA And SAVE Act … And The Republicans Who Voted Against Them

Thirteen House members broke with their respective parties Wednesday on the annual defense bill.

The chamber cleared the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act 216-212, with the SAVE America Act riding along to the Senate. Six Democrats provided the votes necessary to carry the package while seven Republicans rejected it.

The Democrats who crossed over were Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Adam Gray of California, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, who left the Republican Party earlier this year, also voted yes. (RELATED: House Reopens Floor Days After Holdouts Shut It Down Over SAVE America Act)

Golden pointed to wins he secured on the Armed Services Committee, including language barring Navy battle force ships from foreign shipyards and money for another destroyer at Bath Iron Works, according to a statement from his office.

“This bill is a win for America’s shipbuilders, including the thousands of workers at Bath Iron Works for whom it will provide job security so they can keep building the world-class destroyers that are the workhorse of America’s surface fleet,” the statement said.

Cuellar framed his vote around troop welfare.

“I voted for the National Defense Authorization Act to strengthen our national defense while improving the pay, housing, and childcare for our service members and their families,” Cuellar told The Hill.

On the other side, the Republican holdouts were Reps. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Chip Roy of Texas, The Hill reported.

Massie broke over Section 219, which establishes a standing Pentagon office to fuse U.S. and Israeli defense technologies. The Kentucky congressman submitted an amendment stripping Section 219 from the bill; however, the language was not allowed to reach the floor for a vote in a ruling by the House Committee on Rules.

Luna objected to the election bill being attached to the funding measure, warning that the legislative measure used to combine the bills left it vulnerable to removal; she explained in a post on X.

“If we do it as an amendment, the way that I proposed it, the Senate would need 60 votes to pass the legislation without SAVE America attached,” the Florida congresswoman wrote. “Meaning it would be harder for them to TAKE it out.”

Burchett, Crane and Roy previously joined 11 other Republicans on June 30 in sinking a procedural rule tied to the same election bill fight.

The bill authorizes $1.15 trillion, up from $900.6 billion a year earlier, with pay raises of 5 percent to 7 percent, according to Army Times.

“As we support anything in the defense area, we are de facto supporting this war with no end in sight,” Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, said, according to TIME.