Senate overwhelmingly passes annual defense bill, sending measure to House

The Senate overwhelmingly approved its annual defense bill on Wednesday, just days before lawmakers head home for the Christmas recess.

The 3,000-page, $886 billion legislation, which sets the Pentagon’s spending priorities for the fiscal year, includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops, $11.5 billion for China deterrence efforts, and $800 million in Ukraine military assistance. It passed the Senate 87-13 and now heads to the House, which is expected to take it up before the end of the week.

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Passage of the National Defense Authorization Act was initially delayed on Wednesday by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) in a bid to keep the Senate from going home for the recess as he and his Republican counterparts negotiate a border deal that would clear the way for billions in Ukraine aid. Leadership also successfully navigated around a procedural maneuver by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who wanted to strip a short-term extension of the government’s domestic spying powers out of the bill.

Bennet met on Wednesday with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and spoke to White House officials about his hold, during which he “reiterated to leadership that we cannot leave for the holidays without funding Ukraine,” a Bennet aide told the Washington Examiner.

The Colorado Democrat, a leading Ukraine advocate and top Democratic negotiator for border talks, has “been assured things are moving in a positive direction” to get the military assistance passed. He is instead considering placing a hold on other legislation, potentially the Federal Aviation Administration extension, which also needs to pass before year’s end.

The upper chamber easily invoked cloture on the NDAA on Tuesday evening, with Schumer teeing the defense bill up for a Wednesday vote. Over on the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is expected to suspend chamber rules later this week to pass the bill by a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority.

The NDAA was always expected to pass with overwhelming support, though the legislation faced several bumps in the road.

A bipartisan and bicameral dispute emerged over whether to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act through April of next year. Section 702 allows for warrantless surveillance of foreigners in the United States.

The House’s version of the NDAA did not extend the section, while the Senate’s bill did. The conference committee, where bills are sent to sort out differences, opted to extend, though only until April 19.

The 702 extension was not the only NDAA dispute House Republicans lost.

The conference committee also declined to include their provisions halting the Pentagon’s controversial abortion policy and blocking the Department of Defense from funding drag shows or access to transgender health services for service members and their dependents.

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The abortion policy was the motivation for Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) 10-month hold on Pentagon promotions. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who spent months working with Tuberville to try to find an off-ramp to the blockade, pushed to hold a procedural vote on Tuesday to delay cloture proceedings over Schumer’s refusal to allow stand-alone consideration of the Pentagon policy.

In a win for the GOP, the final bill text included two amendments from Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) targeting the Pentagon’s use of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.