The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass Congress in nearly six decades, but Pentagon policy in recent years has become a battleground for cultural issues. Republicans this year sought to tack on priorities for social conservatives to the legislation, contributing to a months-long negotiation over the bill and a falloff in support from Democrats.
Still, all but a handful of Senate Democrats — as well as nearly all Republicans — have supported the procedure to bring the compromise legislation to a final vote.
“The NDAA is not perfect. It doesn’t have everything either side would like. It includes some provisions that we Democrats would not have added and other provisions that we would want left out entirely,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “But of course, you need bipartisanship to get this through the finish line.”
The legislation provides for a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others. Lawmakers said those were key to improving the quality of life of service members at a time when many military families rely on food banks and other government assistance programs to make ends meet.
The Republican-controlled House had passed a version of the bill in June that would have banned the Defense Department's policy of reimbursing costs for service members who travel to another state for an abortion, ended gender manipulation procedures for troops and weeded out diversity initiatives in the military.
Most of those provisions did not make it into the final package, though Republicans are expecting Donald Trump to make sweeping changes changes to Pentagon policy when he enters office in January.
The bill also still prohibits funding for teaching critical race theory in the military and prohibits TRICARE health plans from covering gender dysphoria treatment for children under 18 if that treatment could result in “sterilization.”
