Senate Armed Services clears defense bill, dodging contentious House amendments

The Senate Armed Services Committee passed a draft version of the annual defense bill on Friday with little fanfare one day after the corresponding House panel cleared its own contentious version of the spending legislation.

The Senate measure, passed 24-1 during a closed session this week, matches the $886 billion in total defense spending in the House bill and supports measures to give servicemembers the largest pay raise in two decades, bolster the U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific region and deliver another $300 million in security assistance to Ukraine.

Although one provision puts limitations and oversight on pay for officials working solely on promoting diversity in the Defense Department, Senate lawmakers avoided including the divisive amendments on culture wars that were advanced on the House side.

Those amendments, forced through by House Republicans, led to hours of fighting with Democrats. They target diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and other programs on social and cultural topics they object to at the Pentagon. 

One amendment on the Senate side does require the Pentagon to write up a report on the “legality” and process of a new policy that reimburses servicemembers for travel costs when crossing state lines to seek an abortion. That policy has led Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to hold up the nominations of more than 200 general and flag officers.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the panel’s chairman, called the legislation a bipartisan effort that “makes our country stronger and safer,” noting initiatives to address competition with China and Russia and adapt to changing technology, such as hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence.

“It invests in the people, platforms, and programs we need to deter adversaries and safeguard the nation,” Reed said in a statement. “This bill makes real progress.”

The Senate bill meets President Biden’s budget request and the debt limit deal he reached with Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the end of May to lower spending across federal agencies. 

While defense spending was largely unchanged from the deal, more hawkish Senate leaders complained the $886 billion lags behind inflation. 

The senators reportedly made a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to pass a supplemental package to increase spending levels later this year.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking member on the committee, said the draft bill advances American interests but “does not adequately fund our defense needs,” pledging to increase the topline spending.

“I will work to increase the Department of Defense top level as the bill progresses,” Wicker said in a statement. “This is the best way to deter conflict around the globe.”

The Senate bill tackles major challenges for the U.S., including multi-year contracts for the industrial base. That addresses a key need to ramp up production of munitions, an issue exposed over the past year by how fast Ukrainians have used up munitions like artillery shells.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also secured more funding for the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), an office created roughly two years ago to study the phenomenon of UFOs.

“Fully funding AARO is essential to our national security,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The office provides the opportunity to integrate and resolve threats and hazards to the U.S., while also offering increased transparency to the American people and reducing the stigma around this issue of high public interest.”

The bill also supports continued funding for the research of the SLCM-N nuclear sea-launched missile, considered a tactical nuclear weapon.

Although it was included in the House bill, SLCM-N funding met some opposition from House Democratic lawmakers, who say it is unnecessary and could affect submarines equipped with the tactical weapons traveling to international ports. President Biden did not include funding for the weapon in his budget request.

The legislation also forces the Navy to buy a new amphibious warship to the tune of $1.9 billion. The service did not have the ship in its budget, though the Marine Corps publicly pressed lawmakers to include it.

The money for the ship is more than double what the House Armed Services Committee included for it in its version of the NDAA, and House appropriators didn’t include the ship at all in their defense spending plan. 

In addition, the bill allows the retirement of 42 A-10 Warthogs. The A-10 program, long kept alive as the Air Force and Congress butted heads over what to do with the attack plane, is finally on track to end, with the Air Force hoping to sunset all aircraft by 2029. 

The A-10 is known for its close air support and was used often in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past 20 years. The Air Force, however, views the slow-flying aircraft as unsurvivable in a fight against an adversary like China.

The defense bills in both the House and the Senate will now head to the full floor in each chamber for consideration.

A bicameral committee will then reconcile the differences between the pieces of legislation before sending it to Biden’s desk, usually in November or December.