Another win for the good guys! And another loss for the out of step extremists. But why aren't they crying and whining that they didn't get anything they wanted? Because it just confirms how weak and irrelevant they are.
The House, in a decisive vote Thursday, passed the annual defense authorization bill, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to its most conservative members who had sought to infuse the legislation with a wish list of provisions targeting Pentagon policies on abortion, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights.
The $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved by a vote of 310-118, having passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin Wednesday night. It proceeds next to the White House, where President Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law.
The sprawling bill — numbering 3,000-plus pages — is a product of months of negotiations between leaders from both political parties who worked to bypass most of the demands made by hard-line House Republicans. It authorizes expanded military partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and Europe — ongoing efforts aimed at countering China and Russia, respectively — and structural improvements at several Defense Department facilities. The legislation includes a 5.2 percent pay raise for military personnel. It also directs the procurement of new weapons and missile-defense systems and outlines a host of other national security imperatives.
Notably, the NDAA also extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which the Biden administration has used to help support Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, through fiscal year 2027. However, the bulk of any future Ukraine aid — proposed spending included in an emergency national security funding request from the White House — remains mired in partisan battles and appears unlikely to pass Congress this year, if at all.
House passes defense policy bill, a rebuke of GOP’s far-right fringe
Democrats joined Republicans to approve the $886 billion legislation after it was stripped of hard-liners’ demands targeting abortion, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights
The House, in a decisive vote Thursday, passed the annual defense authorization bill, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to its most conservative members who had sought to infuse the legislation with a wish list of provisions targeting Pentagon policies on abortion, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights.
The $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved by a vote of 310-118, having passed the Senate by an overwhelming margin Wednesday night. It proceeds next to the White House, where President Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law.
The sprawling bill — numbering 3,000-plus pages — is a product of months of negotiations between leaders from both political parties who worked to bypass most of the demands made by hard-line House Republicans. It authorizes expanded military partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and Europe — ongoing efforts aimed at countering China and Russia, respectively — and structural improvements at several Defense Department facilities. The legislation includes a 5.2 percent pay raise for military personnel. It also directs the procurement of new weapons and missile-defense systems and outlines a host of other national security imperatives.
Notably, the NDAA also extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which the Biden administration has used to help support Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, through fiscal year 2027. However, the bulk of any future Ukraine aid — proposed spending included in an emergency national security funding request from the White House — remains mired in partisan battles and appears unlikely to pass Congress this year, if at all.
