WASHINGTON \u2014 The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to pass the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill, setting up the sprawling, $886.3 billion National Defense Authorization Act for House consideration Thursday.<\/p>\n
Senators adopted the conference report by a 87-13 tally. The vote came after the legislation cleared a couple of final hurdles, including a Democratic hold on the 3,000-page National Defense Authorization Act conference report and a protest of the bill\u2019s four-month extension of a controversial surveillance authority.<\/p>\n
But ultimately, the compromise plan secured strong bipartisan support on the floor in a passage vote that came a week after the language was first released.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the floor earlier Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hailed the NDAA\u2019s approval of a 5.2% pay raise for U.S. military personnel and its authorizations for Indo-Pacific deterrence programs, including aid for Taiwan and support for the U.S.-U.K.-Australian security agreement known as AUKUS.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time of huge trouble for global security, doing the defense authorization bill is more important than ever,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cPassing the NDAA enables us to hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party and ensure America\u2019s defenses remain state of the art at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also lauded the bill\u2019s authorization of the military pay raise plus its requirements for new oversight mechanisms for Ukraine security assistance. And McConnell touted the bill\u2019s authorization of spending on the U.S. defense industrial base\u2019s production capacity, on Israeli missile defenses and on weapons needed in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s NDAA recognizes the need to strengthen America\u2019s position in the strategic competition with China through targeted improvements in critical capabilities from long-range fires to anti-ship weapons to modernizing our nuclear triad,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n
Before senators could take Wednesday\u2019s passage vote, they had to contend with a daylong hold on the bill from Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. \u2014 an attempt to keep lawmakers in Washington to reach agreement on a stalled $110.5 billion national security supplemental funding package.<\/p>\n
Bennet Wednesday afternoon dropped his hold on the NDAA, allowing the Senate to move forward on the bill a few hours later.<\/p>\n
Then, ahead of the passage vote, lawmakers blocked an effort from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to remove from the NDAA a temporary extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes collection of communications data from foreigners abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve known for five years (Section 702) was going to expire at the end of this year and yet they just want to punt it with the hope that they\u2019ll never have to debate it,\u201d Paul said on the Senate floor. \u201cExtending this section 702 robs Congress of the ability to make reforms now and likely robs Congress of the opportunity to make reforms anytime in the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers voted 65-35 to waive Paul\u2019s point of order.<\/p>\n
In the House, lawmakers are likely to consider the legislation Thursday under suspension of the rules, which calls for a two-thirds majority of lawmakers present and voting to pass it.<\/p>\n
The final version of the legislation is more moderate than an earlier iteration that was approved largely on party lines in July. The original House bill contained several Republican-backed amendments on hot-button social issues. But the conference plan strips much of that out, leaving in place some limited efforts to curtail the Pentagon\u2019s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.<\/p>\n
Still, Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., sought to underscore the \u201cconservative victories\u201d GOP members secured, such as a salary cap and limited-time hiring freeze on Pentagon DEI staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, this was agreed to at the \u2018Big Four\u2019 level and represents some concessions on the part of Democrats,\u201d Wicker told reporters Wednesday morning, referencing negotiations among Armed Services committee leaders.<\/p>\n
(John M. Donnelly contributed to this report.) <\/p>\n
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