Congress is putting the finishing touches on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week. As usual, it’s a project they’ve been working on all year and this one is projected to weigh in at a monstrous $847 billion. Virtually every news article you read about this humungous bill includes some variation of a description of how it is considered to be “must-pass” legislation. Many of us have always considered that to be a given. After all, we have to continue funding our military and protecting our national security or we pretty much don’t have a country anymore. But the latest news coming out this month has me rethinking that position. Perhaps we need some people in Congress who still have a spine to stand up and say that they won’t vote for the bill unless some significant cuts are made. I’m not talking about cuts to the military, of course. We need to cut all of the absolutely unrelated measures having nothing to do with the military or national security that the swamp creatures are trying to sneak through on the NDAA’s coattails. The latest one will increase foreign military aid to Taiwan and give Joe Biden almost unlimited power to send money and military equipment to them without congressional oversight just like he’s already doing with Ukraine. And there are far worse things already being attached to the spending bill. (Washington Times)

Congress is poised to significantly boost U.S. security assistance to Taiwan to thwart a potential invasion by China as part of this year’s must-pass defense policy bill.

The final text of this year’s $847 billion National Defense Authorization Act provides up to $10 billion in foreign military financing grants to Taipei over the next five years. It also includes provisions that authorize “presidential drawdown authority” to fast-track military aid to Taiwan in a manner similar to U.S. aid for Ukraine.

The bipartisan support for boosting lethal aid to Taiwan reflects a growing sense of urgency in Washington to support Taipei in the face of potential aggression.

One might make the argument that this measure could be appropriate to include in the NDAA because it deals with the purchase of military equipment. But that’s not our military. It’s the military of Taiwan. If we’re going to approve this measure (including “fast track” money and equipment that will have virtually no oversight or be subject to tracking, just like everything going to Ukraine), then it should go into a foreign aid bill.

There are other items included in the NDAA that have raised questions.  There are almost fifty pages dedicated to the funding and operation of the Pentagon’s new UFO investigatory office. Obviously, I support what they’re trying to do, though others might see this as frivolous. But at least the money is going to the Pentagon, so it’s clearly relevant to national security on some level.

Far worse is the plan to include an amnesty program offering fast-track citizenship to millions of illegal aliens. The Democrats have been plotting this move since early summer and now they even have some turncoat Republicans in the Senate saying they are willing to go along with it. When they first brought it up, the Heritage Foundation weighed in, explaining that no illegal alien amnesty legislation belongs in the NDAA.

What is the rationale for this? What does amnesty for illegal aliens have to do with the military or national security? If anything, that sort of amnesty program makes the nation less secure, as we’ve already seen with the millions of illegals that have streamed over our border since Joe Biden took office.

Roll Call previously published a laundry list of some of the hundreds of amendments that the members are trying to railroad through using the NDAA. These include measures such as a ban on TikTok and personal privacy for members of the judiciary and their families. You may like some of those amendments and abhor others. But the point is that each one of them should be able to withstand scrutiny and debate in its own right and pass or fail in Congress on a straightforward vote. We shouldn’t be sneaking through all of this garbage – the majority of which almost none of the members will actually read – by threatening to collapse our military. This is a case of hostage-taking, not legislation.