$886B DEFENSE BILL OK’d

‘No warrant’ watch

Congress passed its annual defense spending bill on Thursday, approving a record $886 billion for the Pentagon and extending intelligence agencies’ warrantless foreign surveillance authority into April of next year.

The House voted 310-118 to pass the more than 3,000page National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024, with 147 Republicans and 163 Democrats supporting the measure.

In opposition were 73 Republicans and 45 Democrats, with six more lawmakers absent from the vote.

The law would raise the defense budget by 3% from the previous year and extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a controversial intelligence-gathering authority that allows for warrantless monitoring of non-US citizens — until April 19.

Section 702 has split the Republican conference — with members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Judiciary Committee passing dueling bills to reform the law, which was set to expire at the end of December.

House Republicans take up the fight in the new year, as members seek to balance privacy concerns for US citizens and the ability for federal law enforcement to thwart potential terror attacks or crimes.

The 2024 NDAA will also hand service members the largest pay raise in more than two decades, with a 5.2% increase aimed at boosting recruitment and retention.

Pared-down

The House had passed an earlier version of the bill in July that was packed with conservative amendments, slashing funding for military diversity, equity and inclusion programs and so-called “green” energy initiatives.

The Senate passed a pared-down version 87-13 Wednesday night without some of those amendments, including add-ons that would have blocked abortion access or prevented gender affirming treatments for troops and their families.

Under Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon has allowed for service members to be reimbursed for traveling out of their home state to undergo reproductive procedures after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.