{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pettersen.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1811", "As Illegal War with Iran Drags On, Rep. Pettersen Votes Against Republican Defense Authorization Bill That Includes Voter Suppression Provisions", "2026-07-22", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "House", "CO", "Brittany Pettersen", "P000620", "pettersen.house.gov", "pettersen", "https://pettersen.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) released the following statement after voting against Republicans\u2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027:\n\n\u201cOur service members put everything on the line to serve our country and keep us safe. We have an obligation to honor their sacrifice showing them the utmost respect and ensuring they always have access to exceptional resources when they come home. Unfortunately, this bill fails to do that, and abandons the long-standing tradition of bipartisanship in honoring that service.\n\n\u201cTrump has bypassed Congress to singlehandedly drag us into a war with Iran and continues to put our servicemembers in harm's way. He told us the war would be over within 3 weeks, but it\u2019s been months. Congress passed a War Powers Resolution to stop this unauthorized war. Even so, he\u2019s digging in further and pressing the war forward \u2014 now using that vote to justify asking for a $1 trillion blank check. This war has made all of us more vulnerable to foreign threats. We cannot authorize more money for the Pentagon to continue this war while families here in Colorado are dealing with higher costs after Republicans cut their health care and nutrition assistance.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have also loaded this bill with provisions attacking transgender servicemembers and the LGBTQ+ community \u2013 policies that have no place in a defense bill. Trump has already put us in increased danger with his illegal war in Iran, and these provisions will force out qualified servicemembers and damage our military readiness during this critical time. Transgender Americans have faced relentless attacks from Trump and Republicans, but they deserve the same basic dignity as anyone else \u2013 the freedom to serve their country and live openly and authentically without fear or discrimination. And supporting our transgender servicemembers is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to building the strongest and most capable military possible.\n\n\u201cAdditionally, this bill includes the SAVE America Act, which raises unnecessary and burdensome documentation requirements for voters to prove their citizenship before they can vote. This is Donald Trump\u2019s attempt to sway the midterm elections before they happen by disenfranchising millions of American voters and sowing doubt in our election system. The inclusion of SAVE shows just how desperate Trump and Congressional Republicans are to remain in power at any cost. SAVE would rob 70 million women of the right to vote, and deepen barriers to voting access for communities of color. Republicans wanted to send a message to Americans by including SAVE here, and that is that only some voters matter, those that vote for them and their dangerous agenda.\n\n\u201cDespite my amendment that would benefit Colorado being included in this bill, I could not in good conscience vote for a bill that otherwise undermines our values and laws, empowers the Administration to put our troops in harm\u2019s way, and fails to support the servicemembers who put their lives on the line for this country.\u201d\n\nOne of Rep. Pettersen\u2019s amendments were included in the FY 2027 NDAA:\n\nRequires the Department of Defense (DOD) to report on how it will maintain consistent optical communications and networking standards as Space Development Agency programs are transferred to other defense and intelligence agencies.", 1, "2026-07-24T07:30:11Z", "2026-07-24T07:31:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pettersen.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1811"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.176527701318264, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}