National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is “never getting to the president’s desk.”
“What you’ve seen from an extreme group of Republicans is to put forward a set of amendments that try to mix domestic social debates with … the security needs of our nation,” Sullivan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of The Union.”
The House on Friday approved the annual defense policy, which included several conservative amendments, in a largely party-line 219-210 vote with four Republicans opposing the measure and four Democrats supporting it. This was a change from the usual bipartisan support this bill receives.
“This Defense Authorization Act, Jake, from my perspective is really about a bipartisan exercise in defending America, defending Americans’ national security,” Sullivan said on Sunday.
Questions were raised last week whether the House would approve the must-pass legislation after conservative lawmakers stuffed the bill with culture war amendments centered around transgender care and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
The House Armed Services Committee passed the measure in a 58-1 vote in June, but support from Democrats dropped after the GOP-sponsored amendments were put in the bill.
Sullivan told Tapper that a “huge number,” of House Republicans, in his view, aren’t “interested in having politics come in the middle” of the legislation.
“So it was a small group of Republicans who essentially created a trap,” Sullivan said.
“And historically, year after year, you have seen the Defense Authorization Act pass with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. We should not walk away from that, this should be an area where politics stops and national security starts,” Sullivan added.
The bill now heads to the Democratic-led Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and members of his party are likely to strike down the controversial amendments.
“We believe at the end of the day, after the Senate has done its work, after the Senate has come back together with the House, we will end up in a place where there is a broad bipartisan bill that can go to the president’s desk that he can sign; that is what is necessary for our men and women in uniform,” Sullivan said.