On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act, approving $901 billion in military spending. The final vote to approve came after a squeaker of a procedural vote.
The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act Wednesday, punting the yearly legislation that governs Pentagon spending to the Senate.
The vote was 312 to 112, with 18 Republicans and 94 Democrats voting "no" on the bill that authorizes $901 billion in War Department spending.
An earlier procedural vote on the legislation just barely passed 215–211 at the 11th hour after four Republicans: Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla, Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., all changed their votes from no to yes. All Democrats voted no on the procedural rule vote.
House and Senate leaders already have combined their own versions of the legislation into one negotiated package, meaning it should face smooth sailing through the Senate and to President Donald Trump’s desk.
There are a few interesting tidbits in the bill.
Hardline conservatives had spoken out against the bill over the inclusion of Ukraine funding at $400 million per year for two years and the omission of a provision that would ban the Federal Reserve from creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
There are plenty of spending hawks who would have preferred to see Ukraine funding at nothing per year, but it looks like that's not in the cards this year.
Other provisions strictly curtail Trump from reducing troop presence in Europe and South Korea or pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine. The bill also would withhold one quarter of War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon hands over raw footage of the strikes on alleged narco-trafficking boats near Venezuela.
That first item is a bit of a stumper. How long does Congress expect us to keep up these Cold War deployments? Of course, American forces generate a lot of economic activity in places like Germany and South Korea, and, likely, those nations weren't altogether delighted at the notion of losing these troops - and their paychecks.
Speaker Mike Johnson is touting provisions that offer enlisted troops a 4% pay raise, eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, crack down on antisemitism, eliminate $20 billion in spending on "obsolete programs" and "Pentagon bureaucracy" and policies that crack down on China.
Eliminating DEI programs is an unmitigated good. Ditto for the pay raise. As far as the reduced spending mentioned here, it is, well, about five precent of what we're sending Ukraine, so...
Read More: President Trump’s 'Peace Through Strength' Moment
Congress Now Halting Pentagon Troop Cuts in Europe, Korea
And, finally:
Another provision bans the Pentagon from contracting with Chinese genetic sequencing and biotech firms and from purchasing items such as advanced batteries, photovoltaic components, computer displays, and critical minerals originating from foreign entities of concern like China.
The Pentagon, yes - but what about the rest of the federal government? We're still learning about the connections between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and China's Wuhan lab, which is the alleged source of the COVID-19 virus. The entire United States government should be under similar restrictions.
The NDAA will now go to the Senate for what should be a sail-through vote, and then to President Trump's desk for signature.
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.
Help us report on Trump and Hegesth's successes as they make our military great again. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member