{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-statement-on-fy26-ndaa-vote/", "Hickenlooper Statement on FY26 NDAA Vote", "2025-12-11", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "John W. Hickenlooper", "H000273", "www.hickenlooper.senate.gov", "hickenlooper", "https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press/page/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper released the following statement after the Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) with a 75-22 vote:\n\n\u201cIllegally deploying troops to cities. Deporting service members. Conducting illegal military operations. Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth continue to carry out their disastrous agenda domestically and abroad.\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cFor the first time, we successfully forced Republicans to agree to hold this administration accountable \u2014 all while supporting Colorado defense priorities like NORTHCOM, NORAD, and more.\u201d\n\nThe NDAA includes several bipartisan guardrails on the Trump administration\u2019s reckless actions including:\n\nPressures Hegseth to release unedited videos of strikes in the South Caribbean: Reduces Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s travel budget until the Department of Defense provides Congress with the unedited video of the illegal and unauthorized strikes against boats in the South Caribbean\n\nRepeals Authorizations of Use of Military Force (AUMFs): Repeals past AUMFs that administrations can use to overstep Congressional authority for military action\n\nSupports the headquarters of United States Northern Command in Colorado Springs: Prevents unauthorized funds from being used to modify or combine missions, responsibilities, or force structure of combatant commands\n\nReaffirms U.S. commitment to NATO: Places new restrictions on reducing troop levels in Europe without express certification to Congress, in a clear rebuke of the Trump administration\u2019s decision to scale back U.S. military presence in Europe and pull back from our international alliances.\n\nUkraine Military Assistance: Provides $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine in the face of the Trump administration pulling back support for Ukraine\u2019s battle for democracy\n\nReaffirms U.S. commitment to historic allies: Upholds U.S.-South Korea defense cooperation and requires that Secretary Hegseth maintain troop levels in South Korea after Trump has threatened to turn away from our historic partner\n\nThe legislation also includes numerous funding and policy priorities that are important to our Colorado communities, military installations, and service members including:\n\nHickenlooper-led amendment to continue operation of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP): After the Department of Defense abruptly cancelled the DMSP, which collects global weather data, Hickenlooper led a bipartisan push to restore the critical program. The NDAA includes Hickenlooper\u2019s amendment that requires Hegseth to continue transmitting DMSP data to scientific researchers nationwide for the duration of the satellite\u2019s lifespan.\n\nLarger Paychecks for Military Personnel: Increases all service members\u2019 pay by 3.8%.\n\n$12 Million for Buckley Space Force Base: Authorizes $12 million to improve 351 of Buckley\u2019s family housing units to update living spaces for service members and their families\n\nMore than $22 Million for Cheyenne Mountain: Authorizes $22 million to invest in updated electronics systems at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station\n\n$226 Million for NORAD / NORTHCOM: Authorizes more than $226 million for increased missile testing by NORAD and NORTHCOM.\n\nBetter Food Quality for Service Members: Modifies the calculation of the basic allowance for food for enlisted servicemembers to improve access to quality food. The legislation also authorizes the Secretary of Defense to conduct a pilot program to provide coupons to junior enlisted members to purchase food at commissaries. Earlier this year, Hickenlooper called on Hegseth to address the DoD\u2019s underinvestment in quality food options for service members, including at Colorado\u2019s Fort Carson.\n\nGrants U.S. Air Force Cadets a Chance to Compete as Olympic and Professional Athletes: Permits USAFA cadets to seek employment as a professional or Olympic athlete upon graduation while maintaining the requirement that they complete their five year service obligation as an officer or pay back their education.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/hickenlooper-statement-on-fy26-ndaa-vote/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6424419116228819, "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"}