House Republicans’ divisions on how the United States should engage in foreign wars will be on full display on Wednesday as the House prepares to vote on a handful of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The defense bill, which has a topline of $892.6 billion in spending, is facing nearly 300 amendments that the Rules Committee approved to head to the floor for a vote. Many of the amendments are likely to spark infighting among Republicans as the party battles over whether to become more isolationist in the face of skepticism about assisting foreign countries.
Among the most divisive amendments is a bipartisan push to repeal the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs, or “authorization for use of military force.” The AUMF grants the president authority to use military force without issuing a formal declaration of war.
Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Chip Roy (R-TX), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Eli Crane (R-AZ), and Eric Burlison (R-MO) led the amendment. Roy, along with Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) joined all Democrats on the Rules Committee to allow it to come to the floor.
Republicans routinely vote down Democratic amendments, but the bipartisan vote dealt a blow to House Republican leadership. Historically, once seen as an obsolete panel, the Rules Committee has been used as an organ of leadership to enact its agenda. But over the past few years, conservatives have used the committee as a personal tool to subvert and challenge GOP leaders.
“The AUMF repeal is strongly opposed by the, I’ll call it, defense hawk community,” Roy said following the vote, per Fox 8. “Maybe, just crazy talk here, 23 years after the AUMF was passed in ‘02 to deal with Iraq and Saddam Hussein and that guy’s been dead …. and we’re now still running under an ‘02 AUMF. That’s insane. We should repeal that.”
One Republican, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), has come out against the AUMF repeal amendment, arguing in a post on X that it “would tie the President’s hands in going after Iranian puppet militias in Iraq, endangering American families.”
The House passed a bill in 2021 to repeal the 2002 AUMF, and a bill to repeal both the 1991 and 2002 AUMFs passed the Senate in 2023. The Senate’s bill stalled in the House in 2024, as Republicans debated over what would come next if the AUMFs were rescinded.
At the time, then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said he preferred to “repeal and replace” all the AUMFs with a “new, more limited authorization scope.” But, he said in March last year, “a new AUMF requires bipartisan, bicameral and presidential support, and it will require us to answer tough questions, such as which terrorist organizations should be covered.”
Negotiations on the bill to repeal the AUMFs were also stalled due to the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had agreed to bring the bill to the floor. But the new leadership team, headed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), all voted against the House’s 2021 AUMF repeal bill and did not have an appetite to bring it up last year.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), part of that leadership team, acknowledged on Tuesday that the AUMF is one of several debates he expects will get “heated” regarding the NDAA.
“AUMFs always have been heated discussions, and we’ve had them a number of times in the past, and I think it’s a healthy discussion to have,” Scalise told reporters. “I’m sure we’re going to have a heated debate on the floor.”
The NDAA includes the Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery, or SPEED Act, which speeds up the process of providing military technologies and capabilities to service members. The defense bill received bipartisan support when it passed out of the Armed Services Committee back in July, but Democrats have warned the House could lose Democratic support if Republicans add “extreme right-wing amendments” like they claim the GOP included within last year’s NDAA.
The NDAA includes a 3.8% pay raise for service members, as well as construction for new housing, dining, and medical facilities. It also includes $400 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which bolsters the country’s defense capabilities.
This year, around 1,200 amendments were filed by House lawmakers, and only 298 were approved to make it to the floor. As of Tuesday evening, 63 amendments remain to be debated either en bloc or individually. Many of the amendments on Tuesday afternoon were approved by voice vote in four blocs, with three amendments already postponed for a recorded vote on Wednesday evening.
One of the amendments teed up for a vote, from Rep. Chris Smith (D-NJ), requires the newly-named Department of War secretary to certify that “offshore wind projects in the North Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic Planning Areas will not interfere with radar capabilities.” It also requires the inspector general of the Transportation Department to conduct a study on whether the projects interfere with radar capabilities.
Another amendment, from Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL), eliminates the preference for electric or hybrid vehicles and related requirements from the Department of War. The third amendment, set for a vote, from Wilson, modifies federal statutes related to military bases.
Tomorrow’s votes on the NDAA include amendments that advance several GOP agenda items as they have in previous years. A handful of amendments target transgender people in the military: banning gender transition surgeries and medications, prohibiting the use of other genders besides male or female on forms, and barring cadets or midshipmen from participating in athletic activities for women.
Two amendments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) are also up for debate tomorrow. One “prohibits assistance” to Ukraine, and the other strikes foreign aid to Taiwan. The Georgia firebrand, who has been insistent that the United States stay out of affairs abroad, has attempted similar amendments to both the NDAA and appropriations bills in past years and recently, with no success.
Other amendments include one from Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) to name a Naval aircraft carrier the “USS United States.”
The rule for the NDAA and the Stop Illegal Entry Act passed 210-207 with only one Republican, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), voting against it. A spokesperson for the congressman did not respond to a request for comment on the “no” vote.
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The House is scheduled to vote on the NDAA and any amendments at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Johnson can only afford to lose three GOP votes and still pass the bill along party lines, though many Democrats are expected to vote in favor of the legislation, and the small majority won’t make much of a difference.
An impending roadblock is combining with the Senate, whose NDAA version has a topline of $925 billion. The Senate advanced its version through a procedural hurdle on Sept. 2, easily clearing the 60-vote filibuster threshold. The bipartisan vote signals that the final passage will likely be easy to gain as the upper chamber looks to pass the defense bill this month.