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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement after voting in favor of the National Security Act, 2024. The bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 70 to 29, pushes back against aggression from Russia, Iran, and China while bolstering our own defenses.

The passage of this legislation comes as former President Donald Trump advocated for security assistance to be delivered as a loan to be paid back to the American people. Senator Cramer spoke with President Trump, expressing his support for the solution. 

“I voted to support the National Security Act because it gives a boost of momentum for the House to take up an imperfect bill and make it better. Leader Schumer’s insistence on poor process, including not allowing amendments, has been disappointing. I submitted multiple changes to strip non-lethal aid and restart approvals of LNG export terminals – one of our greatest national security tools – but they were blocked. The perfect cannot be the enemy of the good. By passing this bill, it moves this critical support forward, but gives the House the opportunity to make it better. 

“In conversations with President Trump and my colleagues, it is clear there could be a path forward if this aid came in the form of loans and targeted on lethal military aid rather than humanitarian assistance. This is a moment to unite the country, promote freedom, support our allies, and push back on communist authoritarianism if we can come together and do this right.”

Since the legislative text was revealed, Senator Cramer introduced an amendment which would have prohibited the use of any funds in the supplemental from being used to facilitate or implement a pause on the permitting of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports. Additionally, he cosponsored Senator Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) amendment which would have stripped non-military related aid for Ukraine and Gaza from the national security supplemental bill.