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The House has passed the annual defense authorization bill, sending the mammoth, $847 billion measure to the Senate for consideration and eventually to President Biden’s desk ahead of the year-end deadline.
We’ll share what’s in the bill and how it ultimately got passed in the chamber, plus more on the release of Brittney Griner and what information Democrats want from the leaders of five consulting firms.
This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here or in the box below.House passes annual defense funding bill
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday passed in a bipartisan 350-80 vote in the House. It was approved under suspension of the rules, an expedited process to pass legislation in the House that requires a two-thirds majority.
‘Important policy’: “I can’t go through every single item that is in this bill, but I can tell you that just about every member of this House has something in this bill that is important for policy, important in their district,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said ahead of the vote. “This is important policy that makes a huge difference for the people in this body and the people in this country, and I’ve urged us to support it.”
What’s in it: The NDAA, legislation seen as a must-pass for Congress annually, includes an $817 billion top line for the Defense Department and about $30 billion to fund nuclear activities in the Department of Energy.
The bill lays out the blueprint for how the billions of dollars will be allocated at the Pentagon, including a 4.6 percent pay raise for both service members and the agency’s civilian workforce, new weapons programs and equipment upgrades, and new programs and personnel policies.
Fast tracked: House leaders decided to use the fast-track process after a last-minute push from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Wednesday night to set an accompanying vote on a bill bolstering the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which had previously passed through the House but stalled in the Senate. The lower chamber was initially scheduled to pass the defense bill on Wednesday but punted action to Thursday because of the CBC holdup.
Compromise: The final bill came together after months of negotiations between lawmakers of both parties and chambers, which bore victories for those on the left and right.
In a win for Republicans, the measure includes language that repeals the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. service members, which has been in place since August 2021.
The concession was seen as a surprise by many. The White House and Pentagon spoke out against it and similar measures to significantly limit the vaccine mandate were voted down in the House Armed Services Committee during the bill’s markup earlier this year.
Lawmaker reactions: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) celebrated the victory Monday evening, calling the development “a win for our military.”
Smith on Thursday said the original August 2021 mandate was the “absolute right policy” at the time, but he allowed that it now “does make sense to repeal that order.
