Despite furious arm-twisting by leading Republican House members, the full House rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have allowed illegal aliens a fast track to citizenship by joining the military.
The vote was 221-202 to remove the measure from Congress’ annual defense policy bill. Some 20 Republicans voted “no” but couldn’t overcome conservatives who threatened to oppose the overall bill if they didn’t get their way.
“This Congress should support and represent Americans by voting to stop military service opportunities from being taken from struggling American families in order to give them to illegal aliens,” GOP Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, who led the fight, argued on the House floor ahead of the vote.
The vote was close even after it was revealed the net effect of the illegal alien amendment and the funding figures for the Defense Department meant combat veterans would be sacrificed to make room for illegal aliens.
Some Republicans argued this was not the place for a debate on immigration while others claimed the illegal alien “amnesty amendment” was simply a mistake which slipped through late at night.
For now, illegals will not be taking the place of combat veterans in the Army. However, the illegal alien amendment can come up again at a later time in the budget process.
Here’s the list of Republicans who voted to push out combat veterans in favor of illegal aliens:
Jeff Denham of California
Mike Coffman of Colorado
Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Carlos Curbelo of Florida
Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania
Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida
Robert Dold of Illinois
Chris Gibson of New York
Richard Hanna of New York
John Katko of New York
Frank A. LoBiondo of New Jersey
Tom MacArthur of New Jersey
Martha E. McSally of Arizona
Dan Newhouse of Washington
Dave Reichert of Washington
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Washington
Elise Stefanik of New York
Fred Upton of Michigan
David Valadao of California
