US Senate Democrats block defence bill over Iran war, Israel integration

Democrats in the US Senate have blocked debate on an annual defence policy bill, objecting not only to President Donald Trump's war on Iran but also to provisions that would more closely integrate the United States and Israeli militaries.

The Senate voted 50-46 on Tuesday, almost entirely along party lines, against opening debate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), in a rare setback for one of the legislature's few must-pass pieces of legislation.

The annual defence policy bill sought to authorise much of a $1.15 trillion military budget proposed by Trump. The motion needed 60 votes to advance in the 100-member Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Democrats to oppose the bill, calling it "a permission slip" for the Trump administration to continue military operations against Iran without congressional oversight.

But the war on Iran was only one of multiple reasons the bill has run into opposition. The version before the Senate has also triggered backlash over measures that would deepen US military and intelligence ties with Israel.

One key provision would require the Pentagon to appoint an official to coordinate between the US and Israel on defence technology. That would include joint weapons research, production and the integration of each country's technologies into the other's military systems.

The provision also controversially calls for "data fusion", which Human Rights Watch defined in June as combining feeds from multiple sensors and intelligence sources into a single targeting picture.

Several Democratic senators, including Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, urged other senators in a letter last week not to advance the NDAA before the measures could be debated.

"As Senate Democrats, we should not be providing votes compelling [Trump] to deepen the US relationship with Netanyahu's extremist government," the senators wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter urging colleagues to oppose advancing the bill.

Senate Democrats' efforts reflect a broader shift within the Democratic Party, where support for Israel has cratered ahead of the November midterm elections. Israel's favourability rating among Democrats dropped from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May, according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll.