Lawmaker Plans to Resubmit Amendment Stripping U.S.-Israel Defense Provision from NDAA

A House member plans to reintroduce an amendment that would remove a provision from the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act requiring expanded military technology cooperation between the United States and Israel. The provision, originally numbered Section 224 and later renumbered Section 219, would direct the defense secretary to appoint an official to coordinate joint research, testing, weapons development, technology integration, and industrial cooperation.

Covered areas include missile defense, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, quantum technology, electronic warfare, and weapons co-production.

The same member and another representative introduced a bipartisan amendment in June to strike Section 219 from the bill. Additional representatives later joined the proposal. The House Rules Committee declined to permit a vote during its June 29 meeting. That decision prevented the amendment from reaching the House floor. The committee controls which amendments may be considered during debate.

30, the House rejected a resolution setting debate rules for the NDAA by a vote of 198-224. Because the resolution failed, the bill did not advance to the amendment stage. The member stated that the Rules Committee rejected the amendment without debate but noted the procedural resolution also failed.

House leaders must now bring forward a new procedural resolution before the bill can move ahead. The member argues that Section 219 would place Israeli technology and companies more deeply inside U.S. military research, acquisition, and supply systems than existing alliances allow.