Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned this week that a provision in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act would merge parts of the U.S. military with the Israeli military, calling it an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy. She said every member of Congress must vote no.
The warning landed as the House pushed the bill through on Wednesday, 216 to 212, keeping Section 219 alive even as the Senate remains stalled after Democrats voted against advancing the measure last week. The narrow margin showed how split Congress has become over a provision now at the center of a fresh fight.
Section 219 is labeled the U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, and it would require cooperation on technology and intelligence with Israeli forces even when the U.S. gets little in return. Benjamin Netanyahu has backed the measure, putting more weight behind a proposal that critics say goes far beyond ordinary defense coordination.
That is why the vote drew such a sharp response from Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives. She and Ilhan Omar said the bill should be rejected because of Section 219, yet the House still passed it with six Democrats voting yes and seven Republicans voting no. The result left opponents with a bill that advanced despite their objections and despite the fact that the House Rules Committee did not include the Khanna and Massie proposal to strip the section from the list of amendments this week.
Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie have already tried to remove Section 219, and Khanna said lawmakers will fight its inclusion during the conference between the House and Senate. That process is now the bill’s real test: the House and Senate can still revise the measure before final passage, but if the section survives conference, it would move one step closer to becoming law. For Ocasio-Cortez, the question is no longer whether she can force a warning onto the record. It is whether enough members of Congress will still vote no when the bill comes back for its final round.
