The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass an annual defense bill that would give entry-level enlisted personnel a significant pay raise and work to eliminate DEI programs in… Pentagon.
It was approved by a vote of 281 to 140, with 16 Republicans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes — and 124 voted no — a much larger margin than in past years when legislation typically enjoyed bipartisan support.
Many Democrats opposed a provision in the bill that would restrict coverage of transgender treatments for minors.
Legislation is now moving towards Senate To pass before heading to President Joe Biden's office to sign.
The 1,800-page bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated for defense and national security will be spent. It will be voted on more than two months after the start of the fiscal year.
The $895.2 billion represents a 1% increase over last year's budget, a lower number than some defense hawks had hoped.
Much of the legislation focused on quality of life improvements for service members among the records Employment issuesIt has been the focus of much debate between the two parties over the past year. This includes a 14.5% increase in entry-level enlisted pay and increased access to child care for service members while providing career support for military spouses.
The House voted Wednesday to pass an annual defense bill that would give entry-level enlisted personnel a significant pay raise and work to eliminate DEI programs at the Pentagon. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)
The measure allows for a 4.5% across-the-board pay increase for all service members effective January 1.
The National Defense Authorization Act typically enjoys broad bipartisan support, but this year's focus on removing “woke” policies may be difficult for Democrats to stomach.
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A policy proposal to ban Tricare, the military health care provider, from covering transgender services for minor dependents of military service members has raised concerns, prompting the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, to reconsider his support. For the bill.
“Completely denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong,” he said in a statement. “This provision has injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills.”
The aim of this provision is to prevent any “medical interventions that may lead to the sterilization” of minors.
The legislation now heads to the Senate for approval before heading to President Joe Biden's desk for signature. (Fox News Digital)
The draft law included an increase in the salaries of junior conscripts by 14.5%. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Other provisions, such as a blanket ban on funding adult gender transition surgeries, did not find their way into the bill, nor did a ban on requiring masks to prevent the spread of disease.
The bill also supports publishing National Guard to the southern border to help apprehend illegal immigrants and the flow of drugs.
Another provision opens the door to allowing pilots and Space Force personnel to grow facial hair; It directs the Secretary of the Air Force to brief lawmakers on the “feasibility and desirability” of establishing a pilot program to test the allowance of beards.
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Democrats are also upset that the bill did not include a provision expanding access to in vitro fertilization for service members. Currently, military health care covers IVF only for soldiers whose infertility is linked to a service-related illness or injury.
But the bill did not include an amendment to roll back a provision that allows the Pentagon to compensate service members who must travel out of state for travel. Get an abortion.
The bill extends the hiring freeze for DEI-related roles and halts all such hiring until an “investigation into the Pentagon’s DEI programs” is completed.
The Department of Defense is also prohibited from contracting with advertising companies that “blacklist conservative news sources,” according to Reuters. Internal Republican Party memo.
The National Defense Authorization Act also defunds the Biden administration's “Countering Extremist Activities Task Force” dedicated to eliminating extremism in the military's ranks, the memo said. The annual defense policy bill also disallows “any climate change programs” and prohibits the Pentagon from issuing guidance based on climate impact on weapons systems.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, spoke of the $31 billion savings in the legislation that would come from cutting “ineffective programs, outdated weapons, and bloated bureaucracy at the Pentagon.”
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The National Defense Authorization Bill, negotiated between Republican and Democratic leadership, sets policy for the nation's largest government agency, but a separate defense spending bill must be passed to allocate money for such programs.
