Senate Rejects Amendment to Drastically Curb Police Militarization

(Source: C-SPAN)

On Tuesday, the Senate voted on an amendment to the yearly National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have significantly curbed the 1033 program, which transfers military weapons from the Pentagon to local police departments across the country. The vote was 51-49 in favor of the amendment, introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), nine votes shy of the 60 it needed to pass.

The 51 votes for the Schatz amendment included all 47 Democratic senators, as well as four Republicans -- Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky. The 49 votes against the amendment all came from the remaining Republican senators, all of whom, as it turns out, have taken significant sums of campaign money from PACs for companies associated with the defense sector, and those that manufacture the military weapons that several local police departments are armed with. Below is a list of the 49 senators who voted against the Schatz amendment, and how much PAC money they have taken from the defense sector throughout their respective congressional careers.

Lamar Alexander (R-TN): $199,300

John Barrasso (R-WY): $158,000

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): $134,706

Roy Blunt (R-MO): $446,000

John Boozman (R-AR): $111,000

Mike Braun (R-IN): $8,000

Richard Burr (R-NC): $300,000

Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): $129,500

Bill Cassidy (R-LA): $31,500

Susan Collins (R-ME): $482,550

John Cornyn (R-TX): $519,076

Tom Cotton (R-AR): $158,000

Kevin Cramer (R-ND): $72,000

Mike Crapo (R-ID): $156,500

Ted Cruz (R-TX): $96,500

Mike Enzi (R-WY): $95,500

Joni Ernst (R-IA): $118,500

Deb Fischer (R-NE): $149,000

Lindsey Graham (R-SC): $530,947

Chuck Grassley (R-IA): $150,500

Josh Hawley (R-MO): $34,500

John Hoeven (R-ND): $145,000

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS): $133,500

Jim Inhofe (R-OK): $816,999

Ron Johnson (R-WI): $85,000

John Kennedy (R-LA): $37,000

James Lankford (R-OK): $108,800

Mike Lee (R-UT): $56,500

Kelly Loeffler (R-GA): $10,000

Mitch McConnell (R-KY): $760,349

Martha McSally (R-AZ): $461,500

Jerry Moran (R-KS): $198,500

David Perdue (R-GA): $112,000

Rob Portman (R-OH): $202,000

Jim Risch (R-ID): $102,777

Pat Roberts (R-KS): $273,175

Mitt Romney (R-UT): $48,000

Mike Rounds (R-SD): $87,000

Marco Rubio (R-FL): $158,500

Ben Sasse (R-NE): $53,500

Rick Scott (R-FL): $24,000

Tim Scott (R-SC): $198,200

Richard Shelby (R-AL): $1,014,622

Dan Sullivan (R-AK): $145,750

John Thune (R-SD): $203,400

Thom Tillis (R-NC): $151,500

Pat Toomey (R-PA): $111,100

Roger Wicker (R-MS): $524,625

Todd Young (R-IN): $137,500

In addition to campaign contributions, senators' personal finances may have also played a factor in their votes against the amendment. As of 2018, seven of the aforementioned senators owned assets in the sector. Capito owned an average of $72,002 in defense sector assets, Cassidy owned an average of $24,001, Collins owned $130,001, Romney $2,000, and Moran, Perdue, and Rick Scott $32,500 each.

It should be noted that, immediately after rejecting the Schatz amendment, the Senate voted 90-10 to pass an amendment to the NDAA from Inhofe, which also is intended to scale down the 1033 program. "Still," Connor O’Brien of Politico reports, "the GOP-backed proposal falls short of the restrictions many Democrats had sought."