The House on Wednesday began debate on its fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with Democrats warning GOP-proposed “poison pill amendments” are set to hinder the typical bipartisan support for the defense policy bill.
The day in the lower chamber started with the House voting 208-207 along party lines to just barely pass the rule to consider the NDAA, with the House Rules Committee having made 350 amendments in order for consideration this week that include measures to block climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon.
“The rule likely guarantees that there will not be bipartisan support for the NDAA and, like last year, this means the House will get steamrolled by the Senate,” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), a member of the Rules Committee, said on the floor Wednesday in reference to the many GOP policy riders adopted during the House’s debate for the FY ‘24 NDAA that were ultimately removed from the final, conferenced version of the bill.
The House Armed Services Committee last month voted 57-1 to advance its $883.7 billion version of the NDAA, which authorizes nearly $895 billion for national defense when factoring in items outside the panel’s jurisdiction and adheres to the one percent spending cap from last year’s debt limit deal (Defense Daily, May 23).
“In the face of growing threats from China, it’s also critical we restore the military’s focus on lethality. The FY ‘25 NDAA does so by ending divisive policies that have hurt recruiting, unit cohesion, and military readiness,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the HASC chair, said on Wednesday.
The White House on Tuesday said it “strongly supports” HASC’s version of the next defense policy bill, while noting its opposition to the legislation’s support for adding a second Virginia-class attack submarine and the inclusion of several divisive GOP policy provisions (Defense Daily, June 11).
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), chair of HASC’s Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, said on Wednesday that about 58 of the 350 amendments are expected to receive floor debate and the House is on track to reach a vote on final passage by Friday.
“So we’ll go through that process today and tomorrow and then, ultimately, a final passage vote on Friday. So our desire is to make sure we get that passed. The last thing I want is for it to not pass and then us [having] to go through a suspension process. I think that sends a horrible message to not only our members of the military but also the nation,” Wittman said during a Hudson Institute discussion.
The House the next two days is set to debate amendments to the NDAA related to blocking further security assistance funding for Ukraine, banning the transfer of cluster munitions and further GOP-proposed measures that would prohibit efforts at the Pentagon related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory initiatives.
“By the end of this week, I expect this bill will also include more important provisions like a hiring freeze on all DEI personnel, a ban on overpaid chief diversity officers and a complete ban on funding for critical race theory across the DoD,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), chair of HASC’s Military Personnel Subcommittee, said on Wednesday.
Scanlon on Wednesday said House Republicans have “decided to politicize the NDAA,” adding the “dozens of right wing, MAGA” amendments made for floor consideration “will poison the NDAA’s bipartisan support.”
“These amendments, many of which are likely to be adopted by the House’s extremist Republican majority, would restrict access to abortion care for female service members and block efforts to promote diversity and address discrimination in our armed services. In doing so, House leadership is once again politicizing one of the few remaining areas of bipartisan agreement in the House while ignoring the real needs of those that serve our country,” Scanlon said.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the HASC ranking member, also added he was “deeply concerned” about the amendment process in the days ahead.
“I would also urge members to reject any of the amendments that will make this needlessly divisive,” Smith said.
The House on Wednesday voted 215-210 to adopt a measure from Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) that blocks funds authorized in the NDAA to be used to implement the Biden administration’s climate change-related executive orders.
Lawmakers also agreed to adopt two measures by voice vote that included an amendment from Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) requiring the Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command to develop a plan for restoring B-52 bombers’ nuclear capabilities and another from Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) directing the Air Force to “pursue efforts to research, develop, and demonstrate advanced propellant mixing technologies for solid rocket motor propulsion systems.”
Obernolte on Wednesday said his amendment aims to “increase the diversity of our supply chain,” with the California Republican having also recently posted about visiting Exquadrum, a small business in his district, that works in the rocket development space (Defense Daily, June 6).
“Exquadrum has developed systems and technologies such as leading-edge hypersonic solid-fuel rockets and the testing of rocket engines that will soon land on the moon,” Obernolte wrote in a recent social media post. “Innovations like those produced at Exquadrum are critical to ensuring America remains on the cutting edge of technology.”
The House on Wednesday voted down an amendment from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) that would have blocked funding for NATO-related activities until the Pentagon certifies that each member nation had met the criteria to spend two percent of GDP on defense.
“Arbitrarily cutting off funding to NATO with a war raging in Eastern Europe and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin threatening us with nuclear weapons is absolutely the wrong thing to do,” Rogers said, with Biggs’ measure receiving bipartisan pushback.
During debate on Wednesday, the House also adopted Republican measures that would block funding for the U.S. aid pier off the coast of Gaza, prohibit U.S. funds from contributing to the rebuilding in Gaza and blocking DoD funds from being used to transport Palestinian refugees to the U.S.
“More than anything, the general tone of this amendment and the previous amendment…about rebuilding in Gaza seems to take the opinion that every single Palestinian living in Gaza is an enemy of the U.S. and enemy of Israel. I think that’s wrong and I think it’s incredibly dangerous,” Smith said on Wednesday.
The House also approved by voice a measure from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) that expresses the sense of Congress that DoD and its agencies shouldn’t participate in the upcoming Eurosatory trade show in Paris, Europe’s largest defense industry exhibition, in light of organizers’ decision to ban Israeli firms from the event.
The decision is reportedly due to the French government’s opposition to Israel’s continued operations in the Rafah area of Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge during the war.
Israeli firms that were set to exhibit at Eurosatory from June 17-21 include Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.