Representative Ronny Jackson (R-TX) speaks at a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) press conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus on July 14, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
The home narrowly passed a yr old defense policy the bill Friday after Republicans added abortion and transgender surgery laws – measures that were no start for Democrats.
The bill, which can must be reconciled with the Senate version, was passed by a vote of 219 to 210.
4 Republicans voted against the bill: Ken Buck of Colorado; Andy Biggs and Eli Crane from Arizona; and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. 4 Democrats also voted for the measure.
The amendments passed Thursday would have barred the secretary of defense from paying or reimbursing service members for expenses related to abortion, transgender surgery and hormone treatments.
The abortion amendment, sponsored by Congressman Ronny Jackson of R-Texas, passed largely along party lines by a vote of 221-213. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, joined the Republicans in voting for the amendment, while two Republicans, John Duarte of California and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, opposed the measure.
The House also passed a minor amendment sponsored by Congressman Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., which might have barred military medical health insurance and the Department of Defense from providing or covering transgender surgeries and hormone therapy for transgender people.
Two amendments were passed Friday morning before final passage. Military academies can be prohibited from using federal funds to discriminate against or set academy admission quotas based on race or ethnicity. The second would bar the Department of Defense from implementing President Joe Biden’s climate change executive orders.
House Democratic leaders said Thursday that members of their caucus would vote against the bill. In a joint statement released by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., they accused Republicans of deciding to “pass the historically bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act to further attack reproductive freedom and push their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people.” “
Ultimately, the defense act could have to be agreed with the version of the act considered within the Senate. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is looking for an identical measure to dam Pentagon payments or reimbursement for abortion services, which Senate Democrats are unlikely to support.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., said on Friday that its members wouldn’t succumb to a bilateral compromise.
“We’re not going to back down. We should not going to offer up on a just cause and we’ll proceed to fight for it,” Perry said at a press conference with members of the Conservative caucus. “The military just isn’t the place for social experiments. The military must focus on preparedness and lethality, and all these other things distract from that and damage our national security.”
The House Amendments, advocated by a number of the House’s most conservative Republicans, were approved for consideration by the House Rules Committee earlier this week in what was seen as a significant victory for the Republican Party’s right wing within the House of Representatives.
Democratic House Speaker Pete Aguilar of California told reporters on Thursday that he would vote against the NDAA, adding: “I do not think I’ll vote for the NDAA.”
Rep. Pat Ryan, DN.Y., who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said the panel worked to pass a bipartisan bill, “and then the far right took over, took over our national security. And that makes our country less protected, less protected, and it’s an insult to all our women in uniform. So I’m for it, and I feel just about all of my Democratic colleagues will probably be for it.”