The House Rules Committee advanced the latest iteration of the National Defense Authorization Act, teeing up the annual policy legislation for a vote later this week.
The panel voted along party lines Monday to advance the NDAA in a combined rules package, which could hit the floor as soon as Tuesday. That will allow lawmakers to debate its contents, and the House is expected to vote on final passage Wednesday afternoon, a source familiar with leadership decisions told the Washington Examiner.
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Congressional leaders unveiled the 1,800-page legislation over the weekend, outlining a number of spending priorities for the Defense Department’s budget in fiscal 2025. The bill was negotiated between the House and Senate Armed Services committees with a top line of $895.2 billion, which is below the budget caps imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The negotiated legislation comes after the House passed its own version of the NDAA earlier this year that passed along party lines — an unusual outcome for a bill that typically passes with significant bipartisan support each year.
A number of compromise provisions were included in the final text, including a pay raise for service members. All service members are slated to receive a 4.5% pay increase next year, with the most junior enlisted members securing an extra 10% on top of that.
The legislation also contains a number of quality-of-life amendments, including proposals to expand eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance, which assists with food security, and money to renovate and build new barracks.
However, a number of controversial provisions remain in the text that only Republican leaders are touting as wins.
That includes language that would ban the Defense Department from providing transgender medical treatment for minors, prohibit funding from going toward the promotion of critical race theory in the military and service academy schools, and restrict any diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the military.
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Those provisions are likely to deplete support among some Democratic lawmakers who have publicly objected to those provisions, accusing Republicans of attempting to sneak in partisan policies in a must-pass spending bill. Democrats on the Rules Committee also attempted during their Monday meeting to attach an amendment to the NDAA that would strike the section in the bill seeking to block coverage “for interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization for a child under the age of 18.”
However, Republicans on the committee shot down that amendment in a 5-3 vote.
