WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — U.S. Rep. Derek Tran, D-Calif., voted against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2027 after the House passed the annual defense policy bill Tuesday on a near party-line vote of 216-212, saying the final package prioritized “partisan talking points” over troop welfare and national security.
Tran, who represents California’s 45th Congressional District in Orange County, had supported an earlier version of the roughly $1.15 trillion bill when it advanced out of the House Armed Services Committee on a bipartisan 44-12 vote in June, following 14 hours of debate over some 900 proposed amendments. “The National Defense Authorization Act has long been a bipartisan process that prioritizes our national security and the health and safety of service members,” Tran said in a statement. “That is why I voted to advance the bill out of the House Armed Services Committee. Unfortunately, the politicized NDAA package that was voted on by the full House prioritizes partisan talking points over the safety of the American people.”
Tran said he was disappointed that two amendments he proposed were rejected before the floor vote. One would have addressed delays to a $14 billion U.S. arms sale package to Taiwan that President Trump had frozen, which Tran said was intended to reaffirm America’s commitment to strengthening security in the Indo-Pacific, guarantee continued U.S. arms support for Taiwan, and deter Chinese Communist Party aggression in the region.
The other amendment stemmed from a hazardous materials emergency in Tran’s district in May. On May 21, a 34,000-gallon storage tank containing methyl methacrylate — a highly flammable chemical used in plastics and aerospace manufacturing — began overheating at a GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove after its safety valves became inoperable, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. The malfunction raised fears of a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, prompting evacuation orders that at their peak covered roughly 50,000 residents across Garden Grove and neighboring cities including Anaheim, Cypress, Stanton, Buena Park and Westminster. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, and the crisis was not resolved until crews eliminated the explosion risk five days later, on May 25. Reporting by CalMatters later found the chemical involved may have fallen outside the scope of California’s strictest industrial safety rules, and that regulators were unable to say whether GKN Aerospace had been required to maintain an emergency response plan; the facility has a history of environmental and safety violations dating back to 2021. Tran’s amendment would have required additional transparency and accountability from defense industrial facilities that handle hazardous materials, including notifying nearby residents and coordinating with local emergency responders on the use of hazardous chemicals.
Tran also criticized the inclusion of the SAVE America Act, a voter-identification measure, within the broader legislative package, arguing it would make voting harder for Americans. The bill’s passage followed a standoff earlier this month in which conservative House Republicans had delayed floor action on other priorities, including appropriations bills, in protest until GOP leadership agreed to advance the SAVE America Act alongside the defense bill.
Following the floor vote, Tran’s office said the legislation invests more than $1 trillion in the U.S. military while making “critical investments in the well-being of our service members and strengthening of our national security,” but argued that with many service members and their families facing housing instability, “I will not authorize over a trillion dollars in spending that doesn’t spare the American people. I still cannot in good conscience vote for the bill in this form.”
Tran, an Army veteran who served eight years and was activated for Operation Noble Eagle/Enduring Freedom before receiving an honorable discharge, sits on the House Armed Services Committee’s Readiness and Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittees and co-chairs the Democratic Caucus’s National Security Task Force. He has introduced other veterans-focused legislation this Congress, including the Protect Veteran Jobs Act, H.R. 1637, aimed at restoring the livelihoods of veterans wrongfully terminated from civil service positions. Tran voted “present” earlier this month on a separate procedural measure tied to the SAVE America Act standoff, one of only three House Democrats to break from the rest of the caucus’s opposition.
The bill next heads to the Senate, where the fiscal year 2027 defense policy measure remains pending.
