House Passes Defense Authorization as Shutdown Deadline Looms

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday passed the $895 billion defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, approving a 1% increase in defense spending for this fiscal year.

With the 281-140 vote, the measure now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers had wanted a larger boost in defense spending than was included in the House version.

Wednesday’s action on the House floor voted a much tighter 211-307 vote in favor of the rule governing debate over the legislation.

Approval of the massive piece of legislation came just nine days before the looming deadline to pass an overall government funding measure or face a potential government shutdown right before Christmas.

Passing the NDAA will now allow House leadership to focus on finalizing a continuing resolution that would fund the government into next year and to organize its agenda for the early days and weeks of the incoming Trump administration.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told attendees at a closed Republican conference meeting on Tuesday that the continuing resolution is just about done.

All that needs to be hashed out now are its end date and the size of the disaster aid package that will be rolled into the resolution.

In the wake of a pair of hurricanes that devastated a large swath of the Southeast, the White House requested more than $115 billion in additional disaster relief funding. The House measure will reportedly come in closer to $100 billion.

“It’s coming together. We’re almost there,” Johnson told reporters during a briefing after the conference meeting.

Members of the conference said later that Johnson told them that they will meet in an all-day session on Saturday, Jan. 4, to prepare for the upcoming budget reconciliation process.

Immediately on the heels of that session, Johnson said, House Republican leaders will hold a daylong retreat to hash out their plans for what’s shaping up to be a very busy 2025.

As for the NDAA, with the party line vote on the rule in the chamber’s rearview mirror all it will take now is a simple majority vote in the House to send the measure over to the Senate ahead of the end-of-year deadline.

The bill includes a number of bipartisan provisions, including a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% raise for all other military personnel.

It also provides funding for housing maintenance, oversight and upgrades, and includes provisions aimed at reducing health care wait times, improving access to childcare, and providing stronger support employment for military spouses.

At the same time, however, the mammoth bill includes a number of Republican-led amendments that are sure to be opposed by many Democrats.

These include a provision that would “permanently ban” TRICARE, the health care program that covers active duty service members, from paying for gender-affirming care for transgender children, and others gutting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and cutting support for the teaching of Critical Race Theory — which posits that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.

“Additionally, the fiscal year 2025 NDAA supports the deployment of National Guard to the southern border to combat the influx of illegal immigrants and drugs; deters China and prevents CCP espionage in our research institutions, supply chains, and armed forces; requires promotions be based on merit; supports Israel and counters antisemitism by banning the sale and exchange of goods at DOD commissaries that have or are currently boycotting Israel; and enhances fiscal responsibility by cutting $31 billion in inefficient programs, Pentagon bureaucracy, and obsolete weapons,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in an email to members and the press Wednesday morning.

So far, it’s the transgender-related provision that is inspiring the greatest pushback.

In a lengthy statement, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee said “blanketly denying health care to people who need it — just because of a biased notion against transgender people — is wrong. 

“The inclusion of this harmful provision puts the lives of children at risk and may force thousands of service members to make the choice of continuing their military service or leaving to ensure their child can get the health care they need. 

“For that reason, I will oppose final passage of the FY25 NDAA in its current form,” Smith said.

“Speaker Johnson had a clear path to considering a bill that reflected the true spirit of bipartisan compromise that has ensured that Congress has provided for the common defense for the past 63 years,” he continued. 

“Rather than take that path and ensure service members and military families get the support they need and deserve, he chose to pander to the most extreme elements of his party in an attempt to retain his speakership. 

“Speaker Johnson would rather secure his own future than easily pass a bill on suspension that invests in the greatest sources of America’s strength: service members and their families, science and technology, modernization and a commitment to allies and partners,” he said.

Smith went on to say that he is proud of the bipartisan work that went into the bill, and Democrats’ ability to block “many other harmful provisions that attacked DEI programs, the LGBTQ community and women’s access to reproductive health care. 

“That work all required bipartisan compromise. Unfortunately, the speaker has upended that process and injected a highly partisan provision not traditionally seen in the final defense bill,” he said.

Scalise told reporters that the transgender provision and others were merely meant to “root out bad woke policies over at the DoD.”

He also said he expects President Trump will go even farther when he takes office next month.

In the meantime, Scalise said, “We’ve given President Trump some really, really good tools and important tools to recruit and retain a strong military by improving their quality of life with this bill. 

For his part, Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he and the other members of the Republican leadership are “proud of this product.”

“It includes critical wins for our troops and our country at a very important time,” he continued. “We spent a lot of time and effort working on it because our service members and their families deserve our best efforts. 

“That’s why we made the landmark investments and their quality of life,” Johnson said.

“The safety and security of the American people is our top priority, and this year’s NDAA ensures our military has the resources and the capabilities needed to remain the most powerful fighting force on the planet,” he added.

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