Vote Notes: H.R.1735, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

The House voted this afternoon on the Conference Report to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2016, which authorizes defense spending for next year. The report passed by a vote of 270 to 156, and I very much wanted to vote for this authorization given I believe military spending is a core function of government. I ultimately voted no though for two reasons: the lack of war authorization and spending beyond the budget caps. Let me explain.

First, the men and women of our military do phenomenal things and what they do is vital. What they defend ultimately is more than each of us and our property...they defend the constitutional framework of our government.

Therefore, with votes related and unrelated to military spending, it’s vital we defend that Constitution. That means conservatives can’t decry executive action and yet look the other way or rubber stamp it when it occurs. The Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to declare war, and yet this bill would continue to sanction war-related activity in the Middle East that Congress has not authorized. The Founding Fathers wanted to reserve this power for Congress because the cost of war in both human and financial terms is far too high to accept without debate. Unfortunately, the President and some in Congress are now relying on authorizations passed in 2001 and 2002 to justify our current war efforts, and I think that is a mistake of constitutional powers. I believe that as strong as my commitment is to the military and its role within the federal government, my commitment to the Constitution has to come first.

As James Madison said, “the power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully vested in the legislature…the executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.” Voting for this report simply legitimizes the President’s unilateral actions, and I think that is a mistake.

Second, honest accounting matters too. This report stays within budget only by relying on a technicality – in fact, it goes beyond existing spending limits by filtering money into war funding as a way of getting around the budget caps. The base defense budget of $515 billion is within budget. But the $89.2 billion allotted to the Overseas Contingency Operations account, used for war funding, is outside the caps.

While fully funding our military and national defense is certainly a priority, I worry that it will lead to breaking the caps in all areas of government. This is becoming a near certainty.

As the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said, “The single biggest threat to our national security is our debt.” In this sense, I believe our greatest security as a country will come as a result of adhering to the constitutional framework of government the Founding Fathers set for us and by keeping our spending sustainable. For all the good it did, this bill fell short on both measures.