...as Shutdown Showdown Continues

By J. Castaña

Last week was a poor showing from the Democrats, including Colorado Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper. As the shutdown of the federal government stretches on and Congress Democrats and Republicans showdown over spending bills, at least one of the “must-pass” measures blew through with surprising ease: the National Defense Authorization Act.

This act, which sets the military’s operational budget and dictates how it’s used, passed the Senate 77-20 on Thursday, Oct. 9. The bill passed with a whole slew of “culture war” riders, including an anti-DEI clause, anti-LGTBQ provisions, and no restrictions on domestic deployment of US troops.

Among other things, this bill will ban trans students from competing in sports at military academies and prohibit any Department of Defense spending for gender-affirming care. This will affect not just troops and military staff, but also their dependents, as well as employees of defense contractors and their dependents. Instead of pushing back against these dangerous provisions, Senate Democrats buckled under pressure and opted instead for a half-hearted symbolic victory. They negotiated to add a rider that would restrict the president’s ability to deploy US troops on US soil without congressional approval — a limp gesture when the sitting president has already demonstrated his ability to bully the legislature with threats of deplatforming and being primaried. And to top it all off, this rider is unlikely to even survive the intercameral negotiations with the House anyway.

Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper were among the twenty-six Democrats who buckled under the pressure and let this bill go through. There are only forty-five Senate Democrats.

The House already passed their own version of this bill full of anti-LGBTQ+ riders, including a trans bathroom ban, a ban on pride flags, excluding gender identity from military paperwork, and a ban on military health insurance covering gender-affirming care under any circumstances. 

Conference talks to negotiate the final version of this bill are currently underway, and it will soon be voted on in the House. If you have concerns about this bill, remember to contact the representative for your district and let them know your thoughts on it.

Senator Bennet’s current term will end in 2028. He also has announced he will be running for Governor of Colorado next year, though the Colorado Democratic Primary for that election has not yet occurred. Senator Hickenlooper’s current term will end in 2026.