Tim Kaine: “I rise to briefly discuss a matter that is contained within the NDAA bill that is currently pending before the Senate, a…”

“I rise to briefly discuss a matter that is contained within the NDAA bill that is currently pending before the Senate, a matter for which I sponsored as an amendment, in the Committee on Armed Services' markup on the bill, that received the unanimous voice vote of my colleagues, and I just wanted to stress its importance. A few weeks back, on a Monday in May, peaceful protesters assembled in Lafayette Square to protest against police violence. They were peaceful, and they were in full compliance with a curfew ordinance that was in place. It was before the curfew. Federal law enforcement officials fired tear gas at them to disperse them, which I found very, very troubling, as, I know, many people did. What concerned me even more was the President's indicating that he might use Active-Duty military against the protesters. That was happening during the same week that we were submitting amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. So I wrote up a very simple amendment that read: No funds under this Act shall be used for any military program or personnel to infringe upon people's rights to peacefully assemble or petition government for a redress of grievances. It was a very simple amendment.…”