The NDAA has passed on time for 62 years in a row, but Congress is struggling to muster it through this year as lawmakers bicker over policy amendments.
In the House, Republicans are trying to stop the Pentagon from reimbursing the travel expenses of service members who obtain abortions, paying for gender transition surgery and promoting critical race theory (CRT).
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the policy chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the Pentagon must “focus on its mission rather than social engineering.”
Some lawmakers are growing frustrated with the amendments.
“We need to actually have the NDAA be about defense authorization and not whatever somebody wants to dream up,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Steering Committee.
Another contentious amendment is the inclusion of a short-term surveillance authorization in the NDAA.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he was against the practice of a short-term extension of FISA, which allows the U.S. to collect information related to foreign intelligence on domestic soil, before it sunsets at the end of the year.
“I think FISA’s an unconstitutional program,” he said. “It would be less bad if it were reformed, but without reform, we shouldn’t reauthorize it.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is also threatening to hold up the NDAA unless it includes language to compensate victims of a nuclear contamination in his state.
“I will absolutely vote for it … if the people of Missouri are taken care of,” Hawley said. “But if they are removed in some backdoor deal, we’re going to have a big problem.”
Read more at TheHill.com
