Senate proceeds NDAA, teeing up final passage for annual defense policy bill

The Senatevoted to proceed its annual $895 billion defense policy bill, a signal that the legislation is on track to pass despite Democratic grumblings over a transgfinisher nurture provision.

A vote to request cloture, or pass an concurment to confine argue, on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the Senate 63 to 7 on Monday evening. The bill now heads to a final vote procrastinateedr this week.

The legislation passed the House last week 281-140, with 16 Rediscloseans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes – 124 voting no – a much huger margin than in years passed when the legislation typicassociate enhappinessed bipartisan help. 

The 1,800-page bill details how $895.2 billion allotd toward defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the begin of the fiscal year. 

The $895.2 billion recurrents a 1% incrrelieve over last year’s budget, a petiteer number than some defense hawks would have enjoyd. 

A convey inant portion of the legislation concentrateed on quality-of-life enhancements for service members amid record recruitment rehires, a concentrate of much bipartisan converseion over the last year. That retains a 14.5% pay incrrelieve for lesser enenumerateed troops and increasing access to child nurture for service members while also providing job help to military spouses.

The meacertain apshows a 4.5% atraverse-the-board pay elevate for all service members begining Jan. 1. 

The NDAA typicassociate enhappinesss expansive bipartisan help, but this year’s concentrate on eliminating “woke” policies was difficult for some Democrats to stomach. 

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The policy proposal to prohibit Trinurture, the military’s health nurture provider, from covering transgfinisher services for the insignificant reliants of service members has elevated worrys, prompting the directing Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, to reponder his help for the bill.

“Blanketly refuteing health nurture to people who clearly insist it, equitable because of a prejudiced notion agetst transgfinisher people, is wrong,” he said in a statement. “This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionassociate seen in defense bills.”

The goal of that provision is to stop any “medical interventions that could result in sterilization” of insignificants.

Other provisions, enjoy a blanket prohibit on funding for gfinisher transition sguideries for grown-ups, did not originate their way into the bill, neither did a prohibit on requiring masks to stop the spread of disrelieves. 

The bill also helps deploying the National Guard to the southern border to help with illterrible immigrant apprehensions and drug flow. 

Another provision uncovers the door to alloprosperg airmen and Space Force personnel to prolong facial hair; it straightforwards the secretary of the Air Force to inestablish laworiginaters on “the feasibility and advisability” of set uping a pilot program to test out alloprosperg tolerateds. 

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Democrats are also disturb the bill did not retain a provision enhugeing access to IVF for service members. Currently, military health nurture only covers IVF for troops whose infertility is joined to service-roverhappinessed illness or injury.

But the bill did not retain an amfinishment to walk back a provision alloprosperg the Pentagon to reimburse service members who have to travel out of state to get an abortion.

The bill extfinishs a hiring freeze on DEI-roverhappinessed roles and stops all such recruitment until “an allotigation of the Pentagon’s DEI programs” can be finishd.

It also prohibits the Defense Department from confineeding with advertising companies “that bdeficiencyenumerate conservative novels sources,” according to an inside GOP memo.

The memo said the NDAA also guts funding for the Biden administration’s “Countering Extremist Activity Working Group” dedicated to rooting out extremism in the military’s ranks. The annual defense policy bill also does not apshow “any climate change programs” and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing climate impact-based guidance on armaments systems.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., touted $31 billion in savings in the legislation that would come from cutting “ineffective programs, obsolete armaments, and bloated Pentagon bureaucracy.”

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The agree NDAA bill, barobtaind between Redisclosean and Democrat directership, sets policy for the nation’s hugest handlement agency, but a split defense spfinishing bill must be passed to allot funds for such programs.