The $886.3 billion National Defense Authorization Act, passed both the House and Senate. The massive bill was NOT the House version that took out “anti-woke” provisions that the conservatives had successfully passed in July.
Oklahoma Senators Mullin and Lankford and Oklahoma Representatives Bice, Cole, and Lucas voted for the bill. Representatives Brecheen and Hern voted against the bill.
Not only is this an expansive military spending bill with many woke provisions, including “taxpayer funding for abortion, gender reassignment surgeries, drag shows on military bases, and Green New Deal provisions,” according to Rep. Rosendale (R-MT), but it also continued FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), a program that allows intelligence agencies to spy on American citizens without a warrant. According to Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), FISA was not in the original bill but added at the last minute to get a 4 month extension of the program passed before the program expired on Dec. 31. Sen. Mike Lee said that in the Senate, “35 of us opposed the motion to waive. We needed only 41 to prevent this outcome, and to remove FISA 702 from the NDAA.” Unfortunately, when Republican Senators like Oklahoma’s Senators, refuse to stand up and protect the rights of American citizens, horrible bills like FISA are allowed to continue.
According to Rep. Matt Rosendale, FISA was used to spy on Americans 278,000 times by the FBI. This is a violation of our constitutional rights and needs to end. But with the quick work of the powers in the US Congress, the bill was extended.
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma (CD-2) voted against the NDAA bill, saying, “I voted against the so-called “compromise” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which maintains taxpayer funded abortion travel, taxpayer funded transgender surgeries, and radical climate alarmism, which contributes to the current military recruitment crisis. It also continues the unconstitutional FISA 702 program, which has led to the warrantless surveillance of Americans, and even includes $600 million for Ukraine.
“I could not in good conscience vote for this NDAA that continues the broken status quo. The conservative NDAA that I voted for back in July, which the House passed, contained true reform that would fight back against the social engineering that the Biden Administration is injecting into our military. The NDAA that passed today maintains Biden’s demoralizing social experiment with our troops that harms our military readiness.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said, “…Only in Washington must we bring a bill to the floor so that we are able to militarily confront China, while at the same time embracing the policies that make the United States more like China. This bill is insufficient to deal with the structural challenges that we see at the Department of Defense where they have veered substantially left. It does not deserve an affirmative vote with the unnecessary and uncalled-for extension of FISA spying authorities that we know have already been abused.”
Original post OKGrassroots.com