Oregon Senator Ron Wyden explains vote against ‘wasteful’ defense spending bill

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement Wednesday after voting against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):

“This bill gives our military servicemembers a needed raise. And I support efforts to bolster our democratic allies and partners in Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine.

“But I cannot greenlight wasteful defense spending that will do more harm than good.

“While the Pentagon continues failing audits, this bill makes no effort at all to hold the Department of Defense fiscally accountable. Our government shouldn’t reward the Pentagon with more taxpayer dollars when the department can’t prove it is managing that money responsibly.

“This bill also unwisely shuts down important efforts to protect our servicemembers from violent extremism.

“And while this bill includes the Intelligence Authorization Act, it lacks key reforms that were in the version of the Intelligence Authorization Act passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, including protections against political purging of intelligence agencies, protections for whistleblowers, and guardrails against abusive surveillance.

“For these reasons, among many other flaws in this bill, I voted ‘no.’

“This bill does include an important provision I authored with Senator Schmitt to study cybersecurity threats to the air traffic control system. I am glad that provision passed, and I will look forward to seeing the results of this important analysis.”