00:00A major political showdown has erupted in Washington.
00:05U.S. Senate Democrats have blocked debate on the annual defense policy bill, arguing
00:10that Congress cannot move forward while President Donald Trump continues escalating the war
00:16against Iran.
00:17This is one of the biggest setbacks for the National Defense Authorization Act in recent
00:23years.
00:23The Senate voted 50 to 46 against opening debate on the defense bill.
00:30The motion needed 60 votes to move ahead, but Democrats united to stop it.
00:36The legislation would authorize much of Trump's proposed $1.15 trillion military budget.
00:44But Democrats say this is not the time to approve such a massive defense package while military
00:50operations against Iran continue without greater congressional oversight.
00:56Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer strongly opposed the bill, calling it a permission slip
01:02for the Trump administration to continue military action against Iran without proper checks from
01:09Congress.
01:10Schumer argued that lawmakers cannot debate America's biggest national security bill while ignoring
01:16what he called the nation's most urgent national security crisis.
01:21But the Iran war is only part of the controversy.
01:26Several Democrats have also objected to provisions that would deepen military and intelligence cooperation
01:32between the United States and Israel.
01:35One proposal would require the Pentagon to appoint a senior official dedicated to coordinating defense
01:42technology, weapons development, and military integration with Israel.
01:47Another controversial provision focuses on data fusion, combining intelligence from multiple
01:53sources into a single targeting system.
01:56Human Rights Watch has warned that such cooperation could expose the United States to intelligence
02:02gathered through what it describes as problematic mass surveillance programs.
02:07At the same time, civil liberty and anti-war organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union,
02:15J Street, Code Pink, and Win Without War, urged senators to block the bill unless Congress first votes
02:23on restricting funding for what they describe as Trump's unauthorized war against Iran.
02:29Several Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Ed Markey,
02:37Peter Welch, also urged colleagues to oppose the legislation.
02:41Chris Van Hollen argued that the bill would create a bloated Pentagon budget, place no restraints
02:48on the Iran war, and quietly expand intelligence-sharing with Israel without enough public debate.
02:55The Senate vote also highlights a broader political shift inside the Democratic Party, where support
03:02for Israel has declined sharply ahead of the November midterm elections.
03:07For now, the annual defense bill remains stalled, with deep divisions over Iran, Israel, and
03:14military spending turning one of Congress's most important pieces of legislation into a major
03:21political battleground.
03:22pandemic, the international government��keeperson, law, and the public health systems are
03:31Thank you, Fred.
03:34Thank you, Fred, for being listened to the United States of America.
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