Senate Democrats stopped the chamber’s Pentagon policy bill from advancing Tuesday, effectively blocking — for now — a wind energy provision and other energy and environment language included in the legislation.
The Senate’s fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act failed to move forward on a procedural vote, 50-46, with 60 affirmative votes need to proceed. Democrats opposed the bill in protest of the Iran war. The conflict has escalated in recent days.
The impasse is a significant setback for the NDAA, a major policy package that has passed with bipartisan support every year for over six decades. It leaves the bill’s myriad provisions on wind projects, nuclear energy, critical minerals and “forever chemicals” on uncertain ground.
“Trump’s supposed ceasefire deal has completely collapsed, our troops are coming under attack, the Strait of Hormuz is a minefield, and gas prices are going back up,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
