- The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which sets policy for the Pentagon and authorizes $886 billion in spending, was approved 219-210.
US House Passes Fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
UPCOMING SENATE DEBATE
Debate in that chamber is set to begin on Tuesday.
The Senate is expected to pass its version of the NDAA later this month, after which the two chambers will negotiate a compromise that would come up for a vote later this year.
The NDAA, one of the only major pieces of legislation Congress passes annually, is closely watched by a broad swath of industry and other interests because it determines everything from purchases of ships and aircraft to pay increases for soldiers and how to address geopolitical threats.
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CBS NEWS UPDATE CBS News
Washington — The House on Friday narrowly approved the must-pass defense policy bill, ending uncertainty about its fate after Republicans pushed through a series of conservative policy amendments on abortion, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and gender transition procedures.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy for the Defense Department, cleared the House in a near-party-line vote, 219-210. Four Republicans voted against the bill, while four Democrats voted for it, support that rescued the defense measure from failure.
- The four GOP lawmakers who opposed the bill are: Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
- The four Democrats who supported the package are: Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico, Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez of Washington and Don Davis of North Carolina.
While the package typically earns wide bipartisan support and has passed Congress each year for more than six decades, this year's proposal became ensnared in politically-charged policy debates dividing Republicans and Democrats.
The broad opposition to the bill from congressional Democrats came after the GOP-led House agreed to attach conservative policy priorities to the bill Thursday. The contested amendments, approved narrowly, led Democrats to accuse their Republican colleagues of using the defense package as a vehicle to push their policy agenda on social issues.
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- The one point of bipartisan consensus on Thursday, it seemed, was widespread opposition to Republican efforts to reduce or eliminate military assistance and weapons shipments for Ukraine.
In a series of lopsided votes, the House rejected proposals by Ms. Greene to bar the Biden administration from sending cluster munitions to Ukraine and to strip a $300 million program to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers that has been part of the defense bill for almost a decade, as well as a proposal by Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida to prohibit Congress from appropriating any more money for Ukraine’s war effort.
The House sidestepped altogether a debate over whether to repeal decades-old authorizations for the use of military force in the Middle East that have been stretched to justify a long string of military actions, after Mr. McCarthy refused to include them and pledged to address them later this year.
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READER COMMENTS
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