Boebert, Lamborn vote for national defense bill as Buck joins Colorado Democrats in opposition
Colorado’s U.S. House delegation split Friday as the chamber narrowly approved a massive defense bill containing Republican-sponsored amendments on divisive social issues, including measures targeting the military’s policy on abortion and diversity.
Republican U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn and Lauren Boebert voted in favor of the legislation, while their GOP colleague U.S. Rep. Ken Buck joined the state’s five House Democrats voting against it.
The $886 billion bill passed on a near-party line vote of 219-210, with four Republicans – including Buck – voting no and four Democrats voting yes.
Known as the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual military policy and spending bill typically passes on wide, bipartisan margins and emerged weeks ago from the House Armed Services Committee with near unanimous support.
But a series of controversial amendments, many approved by razor-thin margins amid heated debate late Thursday, turned Democratic lawmakers against the package. The additions aren’t expected to survive the Democratic-controlled Senate, which takes up the legislation next week.
Lamborn and Boebert on Friday cheered the bill’s inclusion of a 5.2% base pay raise for military personnel – the largest in decades – and celebrated provisions Boebert said “push back against the Biden administration’s woke agenda.”
While Democrats derided the bill’s final version, saying Republicans had “hijacked a bipartisan bill,” Buck said he couldn’t support the package because it includes too much spending.
Lamborn tweeted that House Republicans had “ensured the largest uniformed pay raise in 20 years, codified the Space National Guard, & stopped the left from infiltrating our military with their radical social agenda.”
The Colorado Springs Republican, who chairs a key subcommittee on the armed services panel, noted that the bill contains more than 50 of his provisions, most of which were added in committee before the bill made it to the House floor.
In a statement, Lamborn said the bill “prioritizes hypersonic development, bolsters America’s nuclear deterrent, and advances missile defense capabilities while addressing the pacing challenges posed by our adversaries. This legislation also strengthens America’s military space capabilities to protect our most valuable space assets and ensure American dominance.”
Boebert claimed “many victories” at a press conference Friday.
“When we use the leverage the American people have given us, we can deliver on the conservative promises we all got here on,” she said.
The night before, the House adopted her amendment to ban military schools from buying or stocking “pornographic and radical gender ideology books” in their libraries.
“This is the most conservative NDAA that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” Boebert said.
Buck explained his opposition to the bill in a statement on Friday.
“While I fully support funding our national defense and agree with several amendments to this bill, I cannot in good conscience vote for its $875.4 billion price tag,” the Windsor Republican said. “Our country is careening toward fiscal ruin, and Congress continues to turn a blind eye by passing these massive spending packages with no attention to their cost or efficacy.”
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat and decorated Army Ranger combat veteran, said on Thursday that he would vote against the bill for the first time.
The only military veteran in Colorado’s congressional delegation, Crow cited a Republican amendment to prohibit the Pentagon from providing time off and reimbursing travel expenses for service members who travel to other states to obtain abortions.
“House Republicans voted to restrict abortion access for our troops,” Crow tweeted. “I’ve spent my adult life defending our nation and learned our values & national security go hand-in-hand. Every year, I’ve negotiated a bipartisan defense bill that protects our nation and supports our troops. Republicans chose a different path with this extreme measure.”
Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver also voiced her opposition to the amended bill.
“House Republicans caved to the extreme demands of the far-right & loaded the traditionally bipartisan annual defense bill with poison pills – including attacks on LGBT servicemembers & provisions that put access to abortion out of reach for those in need,” she tweeted.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Britanny Pettersen of Lakewood and Yadira Caraveo of Thornton both said they supported the legislation before Republicans added amendments both called unacceptable.
“Every year this Congress successfully passes a bipartisan package in support of our servicemembers and our national security interests here and abroad,” Caraveo said in a statement. “Sadly, Mr. McCarthy is now bending to the will of his most extreme members with this poison-pill-filled package that limits abortion care, decreases troop readiness, and hurts our national security,”
She added that she hopes “cooler heads in the Senate will prevail” and produce “a commonsense package we can all support.”
“The bill’s attacks on women and transgender service members, as well as the destruction of efforts to promote diversity and equality, will have devastating effects on the military’s recruitment and retention crisis,” Pettersen said in a statement.
“Republicans are choosing to fight culture wars instead of supporting and equipping the brave individuals who defend us in actual wars. While I support many of the provisions in the bill, I could not vote yes on the full legislation because when you weaken the rights and freedoms of our service members, you weaken our military readiness and ultimately the security of our nation.”


