House Passes $895 Billion Defense Authorization Bill

Update (1638ET): The House on Wednesday passed the sweeping $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which cleared the chamber in a bipartisan 281-140 vote.

200 Republicans and 81 Democrats joined together to push it over the finish line, while Senate GOP Whip John Thune (SD) said he expects the package to hit the other chamber early next week.

The House has easily approved the 2025 NDAA – a major defense policy bill. The vote came after a dustup over a transgender treatment provision added in by Speaker Mike Johnson and opposed by Democrats. The bill now goes to the Senate. pic.twitter.com/fWScowN8cP

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) December 11, 2024

The package includes a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members, as well as a 4.5% increase for all other members.

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Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The House of Representatives could vote this week on a compromise version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with up to $895.2 billion in defense discretionary spending.

This latest version of the NDAA, coming in at 1,813 pages, is a compromise between earlier House and Senate proposals for the annual defense bill.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees released the new compromise bill on Dec. 7.

It allocates $849.9 billion for programs under the Department of Defense (DOD), another $33.3 billion for defense programs run through the Department of Energy and its Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and $512.4 million for defense-related activities.

The NDAA allows for up to $11.5 billion in discretionary spending adjustments, bringing the potential total to $895.2 billion.

Another $26.5 billion is tied to mandatory programs.

The new version includes increased funding to bolster U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region with $15.6 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a program focused on bolstering the U.S. military’s China-facing capabilities.

The spending allocation is $5.7 billion higher than the DOD requested.

Other provisions are aimed at reducing the risk of Chinese actors being able to access sensitive U.S. information.

Numerous measures bar the DOD from buying certain equipment or contracting for specific services from China.

The compromise NDAA also provides funding for seven new warships, including one Virginia-class submarine and supplemental funding for a second; an amphibious transport dock ship; and one medium landing ship.

It also authorizes funding for three new Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers; one more than the DOD requested.

The new NDAA fully funds the new Columbia-class submarine and B-21 Raider stealth bomber programs.

Included in the Act, is a 4.5 percent pay raise for all U.S. troops across the board, with enlisted ranks E-4 and below to receive a 14.5 percent pay boost.

Allowances are increased for both the cost of living and basic needs for servicemembers.

The bill also bolsters family support by funding childcare programs and new facilities, as well as expanding military spouse employment support.

“Servicemember quality of life concerns are a major cause of low morale and family stress, which are undermining recruitment, retention, and military readiness,” the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee said in a summary.

“The 2025 NDAA will improve the quality of life for servicemembers and their families.”

Culture War Riders

Cultural controversies have posed a hurdle for the Democrat-led Senate and the Republican-led House to reconcile their differing defense plans.

The version of the NDAA that the House passed in June included provisions to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions within the DOD and freeze new DEI hires.

Other measures in the House version of the bill stripped funds from abortion-related travel, barred funding for the teaching of “gender ideology” in DOD-funded schools, and barred defense spending on gender transition services.

The compromise NDAA version maintains the DEI hiring freeze but drops the House provisions to outright eliminate DEI programs and positions.

It also drops the efforts to block funding for abortion-related travel and eliminates money for materials promoting gender ideology in DOD-funded schools.

The compromise bill does bar the DOD’s health care program, Tricare, from covering gender-transitioning treatments for children under the age of 18.

Another House NDAA provision, that would bar the DOD from knowingly contracting with entities that engage in the boycotts of Israel, carried over into the compromise bill.

Republicans and Democrats both claimed some victories in the cultural battles.

“The FY25 NDAA builds upon the gains made in the FY24 NDAA to end the radical woke ideology being forced on our servicemen and women and restores the focus of our military on lethality,” the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee said in its assessment of the compromise bill.

By contrast, House Armed Services Democrats said they “were successful in blocking provisions that attacked DEI programs, the LGBT community, and women’s access to reproductive health care.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, still hopes to change the final bill, to eliminate the provision barring Tricare coverage for gender-transitioning treatment for minor children.

“Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong,” Smith said in a Dec. 8 press statement.

“This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills.”

Smith accused House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of using the provision to appeal to extreme elements within his party and urged Johnson to abandon the provision.

Provisions Not Adopted

The new bill drops hundreds of additional legislative provisions lawmakers in the House and Senate had sought.

The Senate Armed Services Committee had proposed S. Amdt. 3290 as an omnibus amendment encompassing 93 other changes and legislative provisions.

One would have required U.S. individuals and business entities to notify the Treasury Department of outbound investments in critical technology sectors in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

This notification provision would have covered a range of sensitive technology investments, including advanced semiconductors and microelectronics, hypersonic, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence systems.

The compromise NDAA proposal went forward without adopting many provisions laid out in amendment 3290, including the outbound investment notification measure.

The House had hoped to include a provision codifying a drone corps as a basic component of the U.S. Army, but that measure didn’t make it into the new bill.

Another provision in the House NDAA called on the DOD to prepare a report on plans for defeating Mexican drug cartels.

This provision did not make it into the compromise bill.

However, it directs the secretary of defense to prepare an assessment of the Mexican military’s capabilities for countering transnational criminal organizations, and of the DOD’s counternarcotics support for Mexican forces by April 1, 2025.