Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jared Huffman Representing the 2nd District of California
December 10, 2025
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) voted against advancing the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) out of the House. In addition to exceeding the overall budget by $8 billion and promoting a series of harmful provisions, the legislation lacks any substantial guardrails to curb the authoritarian agenda of this out-of-control administration. In response to the legislation, Rep. Huffman released the following statement:
“The Trump administration is completely off the rails – launching ruthless attacks in the Caribbean, escalating military tensions in Venezuela, and selling out Ukraine. They’re running amok, and Congressional Republicans are doing nothing to rein them in. Our defense budget is meant to boost military readiness, benefit service members, and help protect our national security – not write a blank check to the Trump administration to wreak any havoc they please. But that’s exactly what the NDAA does, which is why I could not vote in good conscience to advance this bill,” said Rep. Huffman.
“This year’s NDAA opens the door for Trump and his sycophants to strip away civil rights, act without congressional oversight, and create even more of a mess of our immigration system. The NDAA continues to allow the Trump admin to hand over our public lands to Border Patrol agents and rewrites key environmental safeguards, clearing the way for them to push their inhumane agenda with virtually no oversight.
“Because of this bill, our brave service members will be completely abandoned and treated with zero humanity. Now, they can be discriminated against based on their race or identity. Republicans are not only making it harder for diverse Americans to serve our country, but they’re also throwing a wrench in military readiness and recruitment in the process.
“While ultimately I could not vote to support their political culture wars, damage to our military, and relentless environmental attacks, I was happy we could negotiate to get federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina—it’s been a long time coming and an important step forward in our work to support tribal sovereignty.
“But at the end of the day, this legislation does way more harm than good, and I can’t support something that enables Trump to do any and everything he wants, no matter the cost to our service members, public lands, or innocent people around the world,” he concluded.
Some of the harmful provisions Huffman opposed in the final passage of the NDAA include:
- Gives a Blank Check to Trump with Minimal Constraints: The FY26 NDAA doesn’t force any truly meaningful oversight or restraints on Trump, despite severe overreaches and abuses of power that have become a hallmark of this administration. While it has minor provisions to fence funding until the Secretary of Defense provides Congress unedited videos of strikes in Latin America, require explanations for removals of general offices, and more transparency on the use of military aircraft for immigration enforcement, the efforts stop there and completely fail to meet the serious overreaches by the Trump administration.
- Clears the way for Trump’s Abuse of Public Lands: Expands the Department of Defense (DoD)’s authority to support Border Patrol operations, enabling the administration to further militarize and weaponize public lands for its oppressive border-enforcement agenda.
- Fuels Discrimination: Prohibits the DoD from offering any DEI-related training programs and developing any reports on topics that are related, or perceived to be related to, DEI. The bill also prohibits transgender athletes enrolled at the military services academies from competing in women’s sports.
- Supports the White Christian Nationalism Agenda: Excludes provision protecting collective bargaining rights for the DoD’s civilian employees. It also excludes a provision addressing the renaming of military installations and bases after Confederates.
- Locks in Trump’s Extreme Border Agenda: Codifies the administration’s self-declared border “emergency” declaration, granting expanded authority to escalate the militarization at the southern border.
- Denies IVF access to military families: Excludes a provision that would have extended fertility-treatment coverage to all service members.
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