House and Senate conferees hash out final version of $874.2 billion defense policy bill, stripping some hot-button GOP provisions
Jamie McIntyre
NDAA IN HOME STRETCH: In a display of bipartisan compromise that is increasingly rare on Capitol Hill these days, House and Senate conferees have produced a final version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, with both chambers expected to vote and send the bill to the president next week.
“Through months of hard-fought and productive negotiations, we have crafted a bipartisan and bicameral conference report that strengthens our national security and supports our servicemembers,” the four leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees said in a joint statement. “We urge Congress to pass the NDAA quickly and President Biden to sign it when it reaches his desk.”
The must-pass bill dictates how the Pentagon can spend the money contained in a separate appropriations bill, which has yet to be approved by Congress two months into fiscal 2024, which began Oct. 1. Here’s how the funding breaks down:
Fiscal 2024 NDAA
Pentagon: $841.4 billion Department of Energy: $32.4 billion Other defense-related activities: $438 million Total 2024 defense authorization: $874.2 billion
“The bill is expected to pass both chambers with strong bipartisan majorities, thanks in part to an inclusive and robust amendment process,” reported Washington Examiner congressional reporter Emily Jacobs.
ABORTION, COVID-19, DRAG SHOW PROVISIONS: The final bill eliminated or watered down several hot-button social policies that were in the House version of the bill, including bans on reimbursement of travel expenses for abortion, mask requirements, and drag shows.
The House version would have repealed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s October 2022 order, which was designed to facilitate access to abortion for service members and their families if they were based in a state where access was restricted. The order remains in effect.
House Republicans also wanted an explicit ban on spending any funds in support of drag shows or drag queen story hours. The conferees dropped the language, noting that “all planned drag shows on all military installations were canceled,” and none have been authorized after the Pentagon’s general counsel determined that drag queen story hours “did not serve a legitimate DOD public affairs interest nor was an appropriate association for DOD.”
The conferees did retain language that would require the Pentagon to consider reinstating troops who were discharged solely on the basis of refusing a COVID-19 vaccination, but they required that the provision would apply only in cases where the service member had “submitted a request for a religious, administrative, or medical exemption” before their involuntary separation.
A Senate provision that would have banned the Pentagon from requiring members of the military or DOD civilians to list their gender pronouns was modified to state that the Pentagon “may neither require nor prohibit members of the armed forces or Department of Defense civilian employees from listing their gender or pronouns in official correspondence.”
PENTAGON TO JOIN IN FIGHT AGAINST FENTANYL EPIDEMIC THROUGH NDAA PROVISION
THE DEI COMPROMISE: One of the most divisive policies that separated the House and Senate was the role of the Pentagon’s Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. House Republicans wanted to disband the commission, but the Senate conferees killed that proposal.
The final compromise did include two amendments from Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) aimed at reining in the commission, reported Jacobs.
“The first places a personnel grade cap of GS-10 on any position whose primary duties are DEI related,” she wrote. “Currently, DEI positions can be ranked as high as senior executive service level, where the maximum salary is $212,000. The salary range for GS-10 in the next fiscal year is $71,531 to $90,610.”
“The second places a departmentwide hiring freeze for all DEI positions while the Government Accountability Office conducts an audit of DOD’s DEI workforce and its planned expansion over the next five years. It also prohibits the Pentagon from creating any new DEI administrator roles or filling any vacant DEI positions until the GAO audit is complete.”
FINAL NDAA INCLUDES ANTI-DEI AMENDMENTS WHILE HOUSE TRANSGENDER PRIORITIES GET TOSSED
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UKRAINE AID DEADLOCK: The White House says the failure of Congress to break a deadlock over aid to Ukraine is threatening to end further U.S. aid to Ukraine within weeks. This week, the Pentagon announced $175 million worth of artillery and air defense ammunition would be shipped to Ukraine from existing U.S. stocks. But that just about exhausts what the Pentagon has available to give.
“Without additional funding, these weapons will be among the last we’ll be able to send,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday. “Cutting off support and giving Vladimir Putin exactly what he wants — that would just be terrible, not just for Ukraine but for our own national security interests and absolutely the national security interests of our allies and partners in Europe.”
The money for Ukraine and to restock U.S. military arsenals is mired in a bitter partisan dispute over border security and asylum policies, with both sides accusing the other of failing to negotiate in good faith.
“What the president supports is immigration reform, and he’s the first to recognize that the system right now is broken,” Kirby said. “He doesn’t believe walls are the answer, but he does believe that increased border security is required.”
Republicans argue what is also required is a change to laws that grant anyone who shows up in the United States legally or illegally to claim asylum and then be allowed to stay in the country while their cases are adjudicated by a system that is backlogged and overwhelmed.
“The president put forward a comprehensive immigration policy to try and deal with this, but Republicans are playing politics with this. They’re playing politics,” Kirby said. “But there’s a reality here. … We risk giving Putin the greatest gift right now. And so, we have to act. The time is now. The world is watching, for sure. And we can’t let Putin win.”
REPUBLICAN SENATORS URGE BIDEN TO STEP IN AFTER SCHUMER VOTE FAILS OVER BORDER DISPUTE
BLINKEN’S WARNING: At a State Department news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued his most explicit criticism to date of Israel’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza as it resumes a bombing campaign that has killed an estimated 17,000 people so far.
The actual death toll is in dispute, as is the ratio of combatants to civilian men, women, and children. But Blinken has said too many innocents are dying and that Israel needs to do more to give the civilian population ways to escape the combat zones.
“There are a number of things that we think it would be important to really focus in on, not only having these safe areas but making sure that the communications are such that people know where they can go, when they can go there safely, making very clear when the periods of being able to move from one place to another,” Blinken said.
“Having said that, as we stand here almost a week into this campaign in the south after the end of the humanitarian pause, it is imperative — it remains imperative — that Israel put a premium on civilian protection, and there does remain a gap between exactly what I said when I was there, the intent to protect civilians, and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground.”
BLAST FROM THE PAST: DAVID CAMERON WARNS US AGAINST MUNICH-STYLE APPEASEMENT OF PUTIN
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Final NDAA includes anti-DEI amendments while House transgender priorities get tossed
Washington Examiner: Republican senators urge Biden to step in after Schumer vote fails over border dispute
Washington Examiner: Pentagon to join in fight against fentanyl epidemic through NDAA provision
Washington Examiner: Arizona congressman: DHS response to Tucson border crisis has made things worse
Washington Examiner: Israeli forces accuse Hamas of firing rockets from ‘humanitarian zones’
Washington Examiner: US sanctions more than a dozen involved in Houthis’ financing amid repeated attacks
Washington Examiner: Israel’s tragic blunder
Washington Examiner: Blast from the past: David Cameron warns US against Munich-style appeasement of Putin
Washington Examiner: Pravda and Prejudice: Vladimir Putin compared to Jane Austen’s beloved Mr. Darcy
Washington Examiner: A year after Griner’s release from Russia, Whelan family pleads with Biden: ‘Bring Paul home’
Washington Examiner: US ‘hemorrhaging sensitive technology’ to China, congressional report finds
Washington Examiner: US military conducts exercises in Guyana as border tension with Venezuela escalates
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Now is the chance for Republicans to reform the FBI
New York Times: Hamas Said To Fire From Safe Zone
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Congress to Air Force in NDAA: Slow Down Fighter Retirements
SpaceNews: Lawmakers Unveil 2024 Defense Authorization Bill with Space Priorities
Military.com: Biggest Military Pay Raise in 2 Decades Finalized in Newly Released Defense Bill
DefenseScoop: Congress Axes Independent Cyber Force Study
Inside Defense: Lawmakers Grant DOD’s Request for Early Prototyping Authority
Bloomberg: Top US Lawmakers Seek V-22 Osprey Probe After Deadly Japan Crash
Military Times: More Delays in Improving the Process for Moving Troops’ Belongings
Defense News: US Faces Hurdles Next Year for Guam’s Missile Defense, Experts Warn
Air & Space Forces Magazine: After Link 16 Success, SDA Boss Expects More Advanced Datalink Tests to Come
Stars and Stripes: With Passing Of Veterans Who Faced Pearl Harbor Surprise Attack, Legacy Shifts To The Young
Forbes: Opinion: U.S. Army Moves To Mobilize And Disperse Its Increasingly Vulnerable Command Posts
Calendar
FRIDAY | DECEMBER 8
9 a.m. 801 N. Glebe Rd. — Intelligence and National Security Alliance “Leadership Breakfast,” Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander, U.S. Cyber Command, and director, NSA/Chief, CSS. https://www.insaonline.org/detail-pages/event
11 a.m. 789 Massachusetts Ave., NW— American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in-person and virtual discussion: “American Democracy and a Fragile World Order,” with John M. Owen IV, author of The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order; and Colin Dueck, nonresident senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute https://www.aei.org/events/discussing-american-democracy
SATURDAY | DECEMBER 9
3 p.m. and 7 p.m. — The U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Air Force Concert Band, and Singing Sergeants present a free-to-the-public holiday concert series, “Season of Hope” at DAR Constitution Hall, with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, the Alexandria School of Highland Dance, and a special visitor from the North Pole. Tickets: https://usafband.ticketleap.com
SUNDAY | DECEMBER 10
3 p.m. — The U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Air Force Concert Band, and Singing Sergeants present a free-to-the-public holiday concert series, “Season of Hope” at DAR Constitution Hall, with the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, the Alexandria School of Highland Dance, and a special visitor from the North Pole. Tickets: https://usafband.ticketleap.com
TUESDAY | DECEMBER 12
9 a.m. Orlando, Florida — Day one of the Space Force Association’s inaugural Spacepower Conference, with Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations; Gen. James Dickinson, commander, U.S. Space Command; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, Space Operations Command, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado; Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, U.S. Space Force; Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, deputy chief of space operations, strategy, plans, programs, and requirements, U.S. Space Force; Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander, Space Systems Command; Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration; and others https://attendspacepower.com
9:30 a.m. 14th and F Sts. NW — Arms Control Association and Embassy of Kazakhstan in Washington discussion: “Reinforcing the Beleaguered Nuclear Nonproliferation and Arms Control System,” with Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Kazakhstan ambassador to the U.S.; Thomas Countryman, chairman of the board of directors of the Arms Control Association; Amb. Elayne White Gomez, president of the negotiating conference for the 2017 Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons; Nomsa Ndongwe, research fellow, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies; and Daryl Kimball, executive director, Arms Control Association https://www.armscontrol.org/events
2 p.m. — Defense Priorities Foundation virtual discussion: “What: Rocks, reefs, and resolve? Examining the purpose of U.S. policy in the South China Sea,” with Lyle Goldstein, director, Asia Engagement, Defense Priorities; Shuxian Luo, assistant professor, Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and director, Indo-Pacific Security Program, Center for a New American Security; and moderator Benjamin Friedman, policy director, Defense Priorities https://southchinasea.splashthat.com
WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 13
7:15 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army “Coffee Series” discussion with Gen. James Rainey, commanding general of U.S. Army Futures Command https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/gen-rainey
9 a.m. Orlando, Florida — Day two of the Space Force Association inaugural Spacepower Conference, with Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations; Gen. James Dickinson, commander, U.S. Space Command; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander, Space Operations Command, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado; Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, U.S. Space Force; Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, deputy chief of space operations, strategy, plans, programs, and requirements, U.S. Space Force; Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander, Space Systems Command; Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration; and others https://attendspacepower.com/
9 a.m. — Counter Extremism Project webinar: “Houthi Procurement and Terror Finance — The Yemeni Arm of Iran’s Proxy Forces,” with Ari Heistein, author, CEP report series, Yemen specialist and defense technology professional; Raz Zimmt, research fellow, Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies; and moderator Hans-Jakob Schindler, CEP senior director https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register
QUOTE OF THE DAY “We made the mistake when the Berlin Wall came down thinking that Russia was going to become a normal player on the planet. They started out that way, but it’s changed dramatically — particularly in recent years. You can’t trust them.” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaking Thursday at the 2023 Aspen Security Forum: DC Edition