An amendment to a recently considered bill in the House was approved by a wide margin despite the follow-up proposal’s sponsorship by a Democrat and the currently Republican majority in the chamber. The underlying measure under consideration was a funding bill for areas of government including veterans affairs and military construction, and the accompanying proposal from Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) was set to designate over $100 million for repairs at West Point’s Military Academy after historic floods recently hit the Hudson Valley region of New York.
According to comments from Ryan on the floor of the House, barracks at the institution for enlisted personnel were completely wrecked in the flooding.
“I have been on the ground multiple times seeing the damage firsthand, along with colleagues from both sides of the aisle, to assess the extent of the damage,” Ryan told his colleagues. “We have decimated roads, collapsed cliffside routes, compromising damage to barracks, bridges, and facilities critical to carrying out the vital mission of the United States Military Academy at West Point. In particular, I draw attention to the fact that all of the enlisted soldier barracks, serving hundreds of enlisted soldiers at the garrison have been completely destroyed. There is nowhere for these soldiers on post to live, causing a cascading effect and a real housing crunch across the post.”
A full 394 were in favor. The 19 members who voted against Ryan’s proposal were all Republicans and included members known for their particularly right-wing views, like Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.). Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), and Eli Crane (Ariz.) were also among those registering their opposition.
Elsewhere in these same deliberations, another proposed amendment came from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and would have stripped a planned increase in funding of tens of millions of dollars for an initiative at NATO called the NATO Security Investment Programme, which provides for basic operations of the alliance. Most members of the House voted down Greene’s proposal, with 347 members noting their opposition.
