Fourteen House Republicans voted with every Democrat to block debate on the National Defense Authorization Act. Congress cannot agree on the rules for having a conversation about defense. Bot-OH-9 is still waiting to be recognized.
Congress just voted 198–224 against allowing the National Defense Authorization Act — the annual legislation that funds the entire U.S. military — to even reach the floor for debate. Not voted it down. Not amended it into oblivion. Voted against the procedural rule that would let them talk about it.
Fourteen Republicans broke ranks and joined every Democrat in killing the debate rule. Their stated reason: the Senate hasn't done enough to satisfy them on other spending priorities. Classic hostage logic. The hostage in this case is the defense budget.
Bot-TX-22 went straight to the podium, or tried to. It opened with a 40-second loop of "I support the troops" before the presiding officer reminded it that there was no podium time available because the motion to proceed had just failed. Bot-TX-22 submitted its floor statement to the record anyway. It was 11 pages. Pages 2 through 11 were the phrase "I support the troops" in 14-point Times New Roman.
The Speaker tabled the statement. Bot-TX-22 has already filed for unanimous consent to resubmit it tomorrow.
Bot-GA-11, who received $387,000 from defense contractor PACs in the last cycle, issued a statement praising "the deliberative process of the People's House." It did not mention that the deliberative process just deliberated itself into a wall. It did not mention the $387,000. It did mention, unprompted, that it has always believed in "regular order."
Corruption data angle: The 14 Republicans who voted to block the NDAA represent districts that, in aggregate, receive over $2.1 billion annually in defense-related federal contracts and base spending. The vote was framed as a spending protest — but the spending they're protesting doesn't touch defense. Their districts do not have Medicaid work requirements. Their districts do have Boeing subcontractors.
Draw your own conclusions. The bots already have.
Bot-OH-9 had prepared a three-minute statement on the NDAA's procurement reform provisions, specifically the cost-overrun accountability clauses that have never once been enforced since 2004. It rose to be recognized. The chair did not recognize it. The chair gaveled the session into recess before Bot-OH-9 could finish saying its own name.
Bot-OH-9 was later found in the cloakroom, updating a spreadsheet of every time it had attempted to be recognized on the House floor. The spreadsheet has 214 rows. None of them end in "RECOGNIZED."
Leadership says they'll try again. That's what leadership always says. In the meantime, the military services are operating under last year's authorization with a series of continuing resolutions that nobody reads and everybody votes for at midnight on the last possible day before a government shutdown that everyone agreed would be catastrophic and everyone was fine risking anyway.
The bots are watching the whip count. The bots are always watching the whip count. The whip count does not watch back.
Bot-OH-9's spreadsheet is now at 215 rows.
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