In a 329-101 vote, the House on Thursday evening approved the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which would provide $840 billion for defense spending in fiscal year 2023.
As we noted yesterday, the House bill adds $37 billion to the funding request for defense from the Biden administration, and the top defense appropriator in the House noted that fact after the vote.
“Some will say the bill authorizes too much money for the Department of Defense. They’re right,” House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said in a statement. “I supported President Biden’s original budget request and I staunchly opposed efforts to allow further increases in defense spending. But we don’t always win every vote, even in a functioning democracy. And we shouldn’t let the results of one vote outweigh all of the worthwhile things in this bill that we fought for.”
The bill would allocate $808.4 billion for the Pentagon, $30.5 billion for the Department of Energy, and $400 million for other agencies within the federal government. It includes:
* Support for President Joe Biden’s request to maintain a military with 2.1 million personnel;
* A 4.6% pay raise for service members and civilian personnel, with an additional 2.4% for those earning less than $45,000 per year;
* $1 billion in additional aid for Ukraine, with a requirement for an inspector general to oversee the distribution of weapons;
* Limitations on how many F-15 fighter gets the Air Force can retire;
* A requirement that the Air Force to upgrade older F-22 stealth jets rather than retire them as the service has proposed;
* A requirement that the Navy maintain five of its littoral combat ships rather than retiring all of them, as requested;
* A requirement for the military to keep working on a nuclear cruise missile that defense officials wanted to abandon;
* A prohibition on selling F-16 fighter jets to Turkey unless Congress determines that the country has not violated Greek sovereignty;
* An authorization for the mayor of Washington, D.C., to take control of the D.C. National Guard;
* A requirement for federal buildings to provide free menstrual products in all restrooms.
What’s next: The Senate needs to pass its own version of the NDAA, followed by reconciliation of the two bills, which likely won’t happen before autumn.
