‘Not what resistance to Trump looks like’: Bernie Sanders rips Senate for passing $738 billion Pentagon budget

Sen. Bernie Sanders condemned passage of a massive $738 billion Pentagon spending bill in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, declaring: “this is not what resistance to Donald Trump looks like.”

The final vote in the Senate was 86 in favor, 8 voting against, and 6 members—including Sanders, out on the campaign trail—who did not vote.  Also not voting were the other three U.S. Senators still running as 2020 presidential candidates: Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Amy Klobuchar. Having already cleared the U.S. House, the bill is now head to President Donald Trump’s desk where he is expected to sign it.

“Congress just passed a $738 billion defense package,” tweeted Sanders following the vote, along with a video denouncing the enormous sums devoted year after year to military expenditures. “We spend more on defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and Brazil  …combined.  We need to fundamentally change our priorities as a nation.”

Congress just passed a $738 billion defense package. We spend more on defense than:

China
Saudi Arabia
Russia
India
UK
France
Japan
Germany
South Korea
Brazil

…combined.

We need to fundamentally change our priorities as a nation. pic.twitter.com/D8wtwH184E

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 17, 2019

Following the vote, Sanders also shared a video featuring Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) who condemned the passage of the NDAA in the U.S. House last week. In the wake of the House vote, Khanna called the NDAA’s approval “an astonshing act of moral cowardice” and a “complete capitulation to the White House” by Democrats. Khanna has endorsed Sanders in his 2020 presidential bid and acts as national co-chair for the campaign.

In his tweet of the video, Sanders said, “Rep. Ro Khanna is right—this is not what resistance to Donald Trump looks like.”

The United States Congress just passed a $738 billion giveaway for arms manufacturers, Pentagon lobbyists, and unconstitutional wars. @RepRoKhanna is right—this is not what resistance to Donald Trump looks like. pic.twitter.com/10f5uhVYhQ

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 17, 2019