House gives troops a raise
Defense policy goes to president without abortion, trans limits
WASHINGTON — The House passed a defense policy bill Thursday that authorizes the biggest pay raise for troops in more than two decades, overcoming objections from some conservatives concerned that the measure did not do enough to restrict the Pentagon’s diversity initiatives, abortion travel policy and gender-affirming health care for transgender service members.
The $886 billion bill was approved 310-118 and goes to President Joe Biden after the Senate had overwhelmingly passed it Wednesday. It is likely the last piece of major legislation Congress will consider before leaving for the holiday break,
though negotiations continue on a bill to aid Ukraine and Israel and boost border security.
The bill authorizes a 5.2% pay increase for service members and civilian employees of the Pentagon. The spending called for represents about a 3% increase from the prior year. The bill also serves as a blueprint for programs Congress will seek to fund through follow-up spending bills.
Lawmakers have been negotiating a final defense policy bill
for months after each chamber passed strikingly different versions in July. Some of the priorities championed by social conservatives were a no-go for Democrats. Negotiators dropped them from the final version to get it over the finish line.
That did not go over well with some GOP lawmakers, though most did end up voting for a bill that traditionally has broad, bipartisan support. About twice as many Republicans voted for the bill as voted against it.
“You almost feel like a parent who’s sent a child off to summer camp and they came back a monster,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said in opposing the bill. “That’s what we’ve done. This bill came back in far worse shape.”
As an example, Gaetz said the House bill eliminated the position of the chief diversity officer at the Defense Department, but the final measure did not include that provision.
Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, chided the bill’s critics for what he described as an unwillingness to compromise. “Apparently, you don’t like democracy because that’s what democracy is. You compromise and you work with people and you do it all the time,” he said.
The bill does not include language sought by House
Republicans to restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender service members and it does not block the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy, which allows reimbursement for travel expenses when a service member has to go out of state for an abortion or other reproductive care.
Republicans did win some concessions on diversity and inclusion training in the military.
For example, the bill freezes hiring for such training until a full accounting of the programming is completed and reported to Congress.
One of the most divisive aspects of the bill was a short-term extension of a surveillance program aimed at preventing terrorism and catching spies. The program has detractors on both sides of the political aisle who view it as a threat to the privacy of ordinary Americans.
Some House Republicans were incensed that the extension was included in the defense policy bill and not voted on separately through other legislation that included proposed changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
The extension continues a tool that permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country to gather foreign intelligence.
U.S. officials have said the tool, first authorized in 2008 and renewed several times since then, is crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions and other national security threats.
But the administration’s efforts to secure reauthorization of the program have encountered strong bipartisan pushback.
Lawmakers are demanding better privacy protections for those Americans caught up in the monitoring.
On Ukraine, the bill includes the creation of a special inspector general for Ukraine to address concerns about whether taxpayer dollars are being spent in Ukraine as intended.
The bill includes provisions by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that says the president must get the advice and consent of the Senate or an act of Congress before withdrawing U.S. membership from NATO. That seems to have in mind former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination who has said he will continue to “fundamentally reevaluate” NATO’s purpose and mission.