House sends far-right Pentagon bill straight into Senate woodchipper

The House narrowly cleared its version of annual Pentagon funding legislation on Friday that Republicans loaded with conservative policy measures. Most of those provisions stand no chance of becoming law once they reach the Senate.

The $833 billion defense appropriations bill passed almost entirely with GOP support, as Democratic leaders ripped Republicans for adding restrictions to abortion access, gender-affirming care, climate change efforts, and diversity and inclusion programs. The vote was 217-198, with only five Democrats supporting.

It's the second defense bill this month to feature Republicans leaning into culture wars issues to win over conservatives. And it's the second year in a row that House GOP leaders have pushed through a hard-right Pentagon spending bill.

But the legislation stands zero chance in the Democratic-led Senate, which has rejected some of the most conservative policy riders on abortion, LGBTQ+ troops and diversity in the ranks. On the House floor, Democrats argued the typically bipartisan bill had been weighed down with "poison pill" provisions that amount to conservative messaging.

"These policy riders do not belong in appropriations bills, and like last year, we will defeat them," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. "But it is disappointing that we are going through this charade again, just months after Republicans and Democrats voted for the 2024 appropriations bills."

A similar dynamic was on display in mid-June, when Republicans cleared a defense policy bill with similar conservative measures. Though conventional wisdom points to those provisions being dead-on-arrival in the Senate, conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) argued Republicans need to "make an emphatic statement" about their values.

"The issue here is Republicans need to walk into it saying we're gonna meet in the middle, not that we're going to just capitulate and start with the Senate bill and maybe add a token provision or two," Roy said. "You gotta be willing to play hardball. And if you cower in the corner, hand wringing, saying, 'Well, shutdown,' then you'll never win the debate."

The Pentagon funding bill includes several non-starters for Democrats. It blocks funding for the Pentagon's policy of reimbursing troops who travel to seek abortions. It also prohibits funding to cover gender-affirming care for transgender troops. And it guts spending to implement a variety of diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change efforts.

House Defense Appropriations Chair Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) said on the floor the provisions focus the military on fighting wars and "pivot the Pentagon away from divisive partisan policies and toward military readiness."

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) argued the legislation was a starting point for eventual negotiations with the Senate, which has yet to consider any of its dozen annual funding bills. Though Democrats say that Republicans’ funding framework guts domestic programs while maintaining defense spending, Cole contended the only path was "to have bills that can pass, get 218 Republicans."

"With all due respect to my Democratic friends, they're not going to help us pass anything at this stage of the game. I don't blame them,” he said. “They're not gonna negotiate seriously until the United States Senate's involved."

But he indicated a final deal will look very different from the mostly-GOP defense bill.

"They're always going to pass the most liberal set of bills that they can pass. We're gonna pass the most conservative. The majority will always look like it loses a little bit in the game because it's gonna bend back toward the center. Everybody's gotta get 60 in the Senate,” Cole said. “But again, you have to have a place to start, a negotiating position."

The immediate disagreements over personnel policies in the Appropriations Committee and this week on the House floor also overshadowed several looming fights over major military programs.

The bill funds eight more F-35 fighter jets than the Pentagon requested, for a total of 76, despite a pause on deliveries of the Lockheed Martin warplanes due to software upgrade issues. The funding boost has drawn bipartisan criticism from the House Armed Services Committee, which cut 10 jets in its defense policy bill in a bid to force a fix to the issues. GOP leaders denied a vote on an amendment from Armed Services ranking Democrat Adam Smith of Washington to cut the extra jets.

Shipbuilding advocates in both parties are also upset that appropriators funded only one Virginia-class attack submarine, siding with the Biden administration. Though appropriators argued a second boat isn't realistic due to shipyard delays, the House and Senate Armed Services committees have both endorsed an extra sub, arguing that cutting back sends the wrong signal to the defense industry.

The bill also includes a 15 percent increase in basic pay for junior enlisted troops, on top of an annual 4.5 percent raise for the entire force. The move is unlikely to be replicated by the Senate and could be another fault line in talks on a spending deal.

On top of the personnel issues, House Democrats also tore into Republicans for excluding a Pentagon request for $300 million to arm and train Ukrainian troops. And they criticized efforts to cut funds for the civilian defense workforce and spending to combat climate change.

Still, Republicans avoided some political landmines in the process of clearing the bill.

GOP leaders sidelined an amendment from Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) to block funding for in vitro fertilization, which has split Republicans. Lawmakers also turned back Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene 's (R-Ga.) effort to block any further funding for Ukraine. And another proposal from Greene to slash Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's salary to $1 was handily rejected.

Joe Gould contributed to this report.