John,

I’m on the Armed Services Committee and last week we passed the annual defense bill.

Our committee met for twelve hours. We voted on several hundred amendments.

In the back room, staff created a mountain of snacks for us. We ransacked it. The number of older guys drinking 5-Hour Energy bottles was alarming. I had some cardiovascular concerns for them.

One of the big questions was whether the defense bill was going to become another culture war debate - as it had last year.

The way that happens is through amendments. As presented, the bill itself is relatively free from super hot-button issues.

But members often like to use the media focus that comes with the defense bill - there were a lot of cameras in the room - to pick fights they think will play well to a select audience.

But after a few hours, there hadn’t been much of that. A few disagreements and debates, but they were generally relevant to the bill - which surprised me.

At one point, I found myself in the back room (the one with the snacks) with a member of the right-flank. This person is a big-time culture warrior who is often loud and abrasive on television, but who has always been exceptionally cordial when we’ve spoken in private.

I was curious why this year was so much less culture war-y than last year, so I asked.

Here was our conversation:

“Hey, where are all your wild amendments? I thought it was gonna be showtime for you.”

“Yeah, well, leadership says we need votes from the minority party to pass the bill.”

“But didn’t you need their votes last year?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t think we would. We lost more of our party on this bill last year than we expected. Now our margin is even smaller, so we know we’re gonna need their votes.”

In other words:

We can’t afford to load this up with poison pills because when it comes to the full House for a vote, it has to have bipartisan support or it won’t pass.

Which made sense, but the interesting part was the sadness in the voice. I could tell it really hurt to miss such a golden opportunity to try to infuriate roughly half the country. A very reluctant pragmatist.

Coordinate vs. consult

I got a handful of amendments passed, but one of them became a close call.

Quick context:

We have a major fentanyl epidemic, as you know.

Two cartels in Mexico make almost all the fentanyl coming into our country, and a lot of the supplies they use to manufacture the fentanyl come from China.

That means there’s a huge crossover in our response between the State and Defense Departments, as well as other countries’ governments.

So I filed an amendment to address the fentanyl epidemic, and part of that amendment called for “coordination” between those two departments.

Turns out, that was a major problem.

I was told that “coordination” was going too far. The most they would accept was “consultation.”

I talked it over with my staff. Practically speaking, the difference was almost negligible. So I said, “Let’s stick with coordination. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

It was not fine.

Two hours later my amendment still hadn’t come to a vote. No biggie. It’s a long day, plenty of time on the clock.

Then three hours. Then four. Then five.

Then I got word: “Coordination” was an absolute dealbreaker. It had to be “consultation,” or my amendment was toast.

It’s moments like this where you really feel what it means to be a freshman member of Congress. This wasn’t a fight I was going to win.

I told my staff, “You know, on second thought, consultation sounds great to me.”

We changed the word - and it passed unanimously.

Campaign update

I’m headed out to eastern North Carolina this week. We’ve got a handful of stops planned and I’m really looking forward to it.

We’re picking up speed with our trips across the state. I hope I get the chance to say hello to many of you in person.

Powering our campaign for Attorney General is folks like you who have decided to support us. I’m very grateful. The best way to do that is through this newsletter. You can contribute here (ActBlue) or here (non-ActBlue). Both fund our campaign directly.

If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

And I’ll see you on the campaign trail.

Best,

Jeff

P.S. - I’m not allowed to show you a picture of the pile of snacks from inside the back room of the Armed Services Committee - but not to fear, as A.I. once again gets the job done: