Senator Murray Statement on Opposing National Defense Authorization Act

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, voted against final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (NDAA), and issued the following statement:

"I strongly support our troops-I have for my entire career. As the daughter of a WWII veteran, I take the mission of our military very seriously, and I will always do everything I can to keep our troops safe.

"However, in a moment when this President suggests that Democratic led cities should be used as 'training grounds' for the military and that there's a 'war from within,' I simply don't see how I can vote for this bill. Portland and Chicago are not 'war zones' that require military intervention. The President is lying about chaos on our streets to deploy the military against our own citizens.

"At the same time, the least qualified Secretary of Defense in our history is wrongly firing senior women military leaders and denigrating the countless women servicemembers who put their lives on the line for our country, demonstrating nothing short of outright hostility toward women soldiers-it's a disgrace.

"The way this President is trying to weaponize and politicize our military should outrage every American. America is not a country where the military takes aim at the very people our soldiers swear an oath to protect-and it never should be. It's on every one of us to stand up for this democracy-I cannot and will not support the passage of this defense bill right now. Moreover, it is absurd for Republican Leadership to press ahead with floor votes on this year's defense policy bill while they continue to refuse to meet with Democrats to hammer out a deal to actually pay our troops, reopen government, and protect health care."

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