Betrayed and Outraged!
By John McCardell
You should be outraged.
For starters, both the U.S. House and Senate rammed through the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) over the past two days . . . and they did it by lying, ignoring the rules, and deceit.
It’s one of the most naked abuses of power we’ve ever seen.
The first thing to know is what a monstrosity the NDAA is: over 3,000 pages were dropped on our representatives and senators, and they were given virtually no chance to object, much less read it.
The statists pulled out every stop to not only water down a necessary bill by eliminating good reform, but they also threw in bad things they weren’t allowed to do.
They went so far as to claim a vote to fix the bill is a vote against funding our military.
The votes on Wednesday and Thursday proved beyond any reasonable doubt the rules mean exactly nothing to the majority of Republicans and Democrats in D.C.
What Congress actually did was abuse our troops, using them as human shields to pass odious assaults on our freedom.
The statist members of both parties allowed a four-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, despite this addition being against both House and Senate Rules.
The clearly believe the rules don’t apply to them.
Not only does this NDAA extend Section 702 for four more months with no reforms – reforms you and I were promised – but as Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) pointed out, there’s actually a provision to extend the unconstitutional warrantless surveillance program into 2025unless a reform bill is passed.
Which means that effectively, all of the senators and representatives voted to extend an unconstitutional surveillance program known to have been abused millions of times until months after the election.
But that’s not all.
Tucked deep into the NDAA was a provision to allow departments of the military to “initiate operational development activities” (translation: develop new weapons systems) without congressional approval.
Congress just proactively forfeited its authority to the Pentagon!
But wait; there’s more!
Almost everything the Republicans had in the House-passed bill they claimed to want were stripped out in the “conference committee” – which was no committee at all. Many of the so-called “conferees” weren’t even allowed to meet behind closed doors during House and Senate negotiations.
This NDAA was an agreement strictly between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has now, beyond any doubt, completely betrayed those who voted for him.
Mike Johnson agreed with Chuck Schumer to continue taxpayer funded abortion travel and sex changes, indefinite detention of Americans without charges, and almost all of the Woke Agenda the Democrats demanded.
And just as infuriating as what is in the NDAA is how they passed it this morning.
Without getting into the dirty details and parliamentary procedure, the Deep State apologists twisted and abused the rules and outright lied on the House floor to get their way.
Every American should be furious.
More than two-thirds of House members don’t care about the rules, happily break their own rules, and do so to RAM through hideous violations of the constitutional rights of Americans.
In fact, during the short debate on the bill, Republicans and Democrats alike ganged up to bully and browbeat the patriotic members who voted against the bill. They are shameless.
And you all deserve to know how your representatives and senators voted on this atrocity.
Click the link for the complete list. You will be surprised at who consented to this travesty.
It’s no surprise that swamp creatures like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) or Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) voted for it. They are in the back pocket of the military industrial complex.
But would you be surprised to learn that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) voted for it? Or Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)?
View the complete list here.
But don’t just get furious about this.
You and I must resolve to fight harder than ever.
The fact is, we came closer than we ever have to defeating a piece of legislation that is supposedly “must-pass.” We were only six votes short in the Senate from Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY) blocking the 702 renewal as a part of the NDAA. We were only 20 votes short in the House.
Your calls and petitions made a huge difference. The only thing we need to win is more people to do the same.
When you and I make the phone calls, the elected officials take notice when the outcry is loud.
So we need to be even louder!
Barring the Senate and House trying to quietly ram through a $106 BILLION (or more) supplemental spending bill for war in Ukraine and Israel, the damage is done for 2023.
We’ll be watching.
Our first order of business in 2024 will be to DEMAND Congress passes H.R. 6570, to end the unconstitutional mass surveillance of the American people.
And when election season rolls around, we’ll be reminding everyone the absolute and utter contempt these 310 representatives and 85 senators who voted for the NDAA have for their constituents.
Because only when they feel the heat will they see the light.
Thanks for all you do for Liberty,
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