Sprawling Pentagon policy legislation advanced in the House on Tuesday, a turnaround after Republican infighting stalled the $1.15 trillion bill just weeks ago.
House Republicans are next set to push to attach numerous conservative amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act in a bid to solidify GOP support to pass the bill as soon as Wednesday. Most Democrats are expected to oppose the bill over its record price tag and President Donald Trump’s pursuit of the Iran war.
The narrow 214-211 procedural vote comes after a handful of Republican hard-liners in June voted to block the defense bill from coming to the House floor amid a dispute over election legislation backed by Trump.
Speaker Mike Johnson has since smoothed over the dispute with those hard-liners, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), over forcing the Senate to consider voter identification legislation that kept the House floor frozen for weeks. With Tuesday’s procedural vote, Republicans agreed to attach their overhaul, the SAVE America Act, to the defense bill when it passes. House Republicans have similarly attached the SAVE America Act to other major bills sent to the Senate this month.
The rule vote was held open as Johnson worked to sway some holdouts to advance the defense bill and several other measures. In the end, just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, opposed advancing the bill after GOP leadership didn’t green-light his amendment to strip a provision that would bolster cooperation between the U.S. and Israel on military technology.
That’s not the only move GOP leaders are making to lock down conservative support for the defense bill.
Lawmakers will next plow through 320 amendments to the defense bill, some of which will steer the bill rightward if adopted.
The tranche includes several proposals that tap into a partisan fight over transgender people serving in the military, including Republican amendments to make permanent the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the military and to block funding for gender-affirming medical procedures through the military’s Tricare health system.
Lawmakers will also debate a GOP proposal requiring the Pentagon report on options for a potential cut to the civilian defense workforce of 200,000 employees. And Ukraine aid skeptics in the GOP were granted a vote to bar Pentagon funding to help arm the Ukrainian military as Russia’s invasion drags on.
Most Democratic amendments aimed at reining in the Trump administration and slashing spending were rejected by Republicans. That includes efforts to reduce the bill’s budget top line below $1 trillion and prohibit funding to continue the war against Iran.
Tuesday’s procedural vote also advanced several other major bills with defense implications. Republicans are also set to consider a budget blueprint meant to jump-start the party-line reconciliation process to fast-track $95 billion in additional spending, including $60 billion in defense funding to cover the costs of the Iran war.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee that vets bills before they head to the House floor, argued the combination of bills shows Trump and Republicans’ misplaced priorities. He called the war “another one of Donald Trump’s broken promises.”
“Does anyone think that’s made life better for the American people?” McGovern asked. “Maybe it’s made life better for defense contractors. Maybe for the crazy neocon warmongers that get a kick out of another war. But not for everyday people.”
House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) shot back that the GOP priorities “are not out of whack.”
“The number one role of the federal government is the defense of this nation,” Foxx said.
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