WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on Wednesday joined Republicans to pass a $1.15 trillion defense policy bill, diverging from House Democrats who overwhelmingly rejected the legislation, citing objections over the Iran war and the attachment of a voting measure backed by President Donald Trump.
The House narrowly passed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2027 216-212 , marking a breakdown in the historically bipartisan process behind the annual bill. Six Democrats, including Gluesenkamp Perez, supported the measure, clinching its passage. Seven Republicans opposed it. The measure now heads to the Senate, where Trump’s effort to impose voting restrictions, the SAVE America Act, has remained stalled. House Speaker Mike Johnson attached the voting measure to the defense bill after mounting pressure from some right-wing lawmakers.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who frequently breaks from the Democratic Party, said she voted for the defense bill due to other provisions within it she said would benefit service members and domestic manufacturing.
“This legislation provides a meaningful raise for service members, strengthens and invests in our domestic manufacturing base for national security, and includes provisions to support the Right to Repair — the issue that inspired me to run for Congress in the first place,” the Democrat from Washougal said in a statement Wednesday evening. “Unfortunately, House Republicans used a procedural move that will add provisions from the partisan Save America Act to the [National Defense Authorization Act] when it goes to the Senate.”
“Abandoning the many wins in the NDAA over a dead-on-arrival attached provision would be a Pyrrhic victory,” she said, adding that she will support Senate colleagues in advancing a defense bill “that makes America stronger, more secure and more prosperous.”
It is the latest in a voting record that underscores the congressmember’s readiness to break with her party. Gluesenkamp Perez, who represents the state’s most vulnerable Congressional seat, has built a national reputation as a Democrat who often crosses party lines, at times angering her party as she does so. Last year, she voted for an earlier version of the SAVE America Act; this year, she voted against it, stating it would needlessly hinder eligible citizens’ ability to vote. In June, she voted alongside Democrats in a symbolic rebuke of the president’s war in Iran.
Washington’s other House Democrats voted against the defense bill, including two lawmakers who helped craft it.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, which drafts the sweeping defense bill, applauded the bill’s otherwise bipartisan effort but said he cannot support such broad spending for defense as the war in Iran rages.
“The war in Iran: We are in an incredibly dangerous situation. The costs continue to escalate. We’ve lost more service members,” Smith, of Bellevue, said on the House floor. “As we support anything in the defense area, we are de factor supporting this war with no end in sight.”
Rep. Marilyn Strickland, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, rejected the legislation due to the inclusion of Trump’s signature voting measure.
“While this bill includes bipartisan provisions that would benefit our service-members and strengthen our national defense,” said Strickland, of Tacoma, “I will not support a bill that makes it harder for U.S. citizens to exercise their constitutionally protected right to vote.”
House Republicans on Wednesday also separately advanced a longshot $95 billion budget proposal to fund the Iran war and other Trump priorities, which included more than $60 billion for the Pentagon and money for provisions of the SAVE America Act. It passed 216-214 along party lines.
Two Republicans and one independent joined all Democrats in opposition, another signal of the deep divides over the ongoing war and the billions Trump is seeking for it.
Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse, of Yakima, and Michael Baumgartner, of Spokane, voted in favor of both bills Wednesday.
Baumgartner said the National Defense Authorization Act will ensure the American military has the tools to deter adversaries. Newhouse said the $95 billion budget bill is necessary to “ensure we can work to replenish critical warfighting munitions, support producers facing rising costs, and strengthen the security of our elections.”
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