Congress Aims To Pass Defense Bill Before Trump Takes Office

Congressional leaders are gearing up to ram through a $895 billion pork-filled defense bill before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office next month.

According to The Hill, the House is expected to vote on the 1,813-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 on Wednesday. Released on Saturday night, the legislation — which was negotiated behind closed doors by congressional leadership — is stuffed with items unrelated to defense policy and void of conservative priorities included in the version passed by the GOP-controlled House earlier this year.

The “negotiated” NDAA does not include a provision from the lower chamber’s bill that eliminated all Pentagon offices that “promote diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), an offshoot of Marxist ideology. The removed provision also sought to ensure that “the employment of all personnel of each such [DEI} office is terminated.”

The final version does not include a section from the House bill prohibiting the defense secretary from “establish[ing] or maintain[ing] any committee, panel, office, or other organization with responsibility for matters relating to [DEI] in schools operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity.” A provision eliminating the Defense Department’s chief diversity officer was also removed from the final measure.

The “negotiated” NDAA also waters down language in the House version that placed limits on the Pentagon’s ability to create new DEI-related positions. While the House measure seeks to permanently prohibit the agency from “establish[ing] any new positions” and “fill[ing] any vacancies” related to DEI, the bill produced by congressional leadership only places a temporary hold on these actions until the U.S. comptroller general submits to Congress a “review of the Department of Defense [DEI] workforce,” as required by the FY2024 NDAA.

The final FY2025 NDAA similarly weakens provisions in the House-passed version seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in the military. The GOP-backed draft stipulates, “No employee of the Department of Defense or member of the Armed Forces acting in their official capacity may promote, endorse, or advocate for critical race theory or associated race based theories … or may compel or train any member of the Armed Forces or employee of the Department of Defense to believe or profess belief in such theories.”

The negotiated NDAA, however, softens this provision by prohibiting the Pentagon from expending federal funds “to endorse” CRT at an “academic institution operated by the Department of Defense”; in training provided to a member of the Armed Forces;” “or in professional military education.”

House-passed provisions prohibiting the Pentagon from using funds to transport “Palestinian refugees to the United States” and barring mask requirements for those infected with Covid were also removed from the final NDAA.

Meanwhile, Democrats have expressed outrage at a provision included in the final NDAA draft prohibiting TRICARE — the military’s health care program — from covering harmful “trans” surgeries and chemicals given to children “that could result in sterilization.” The language is watered down from that included in the House version, which banned TRICARE coverage for such procedures for both children and adults.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., gifted Democrats political ammo on Tuesday, complaining about Speaker Mike Johnson’s inclusion of the prohibition on harmful “trans” procedures on children under TRICARE in the final bill. The House Armed Services Committee chair — who supported the amendment this past summer — whined that Johnson “didn’t talk to [him]” about the provision’s inclusion in the “negotiated” NDAA and said he preferred to leave these “cultural issues” to be handled by Trump.

“[Trump] is going to stop all these social, cultural issues from being embedded as policies. So my point is, I don’t know why this is in the bill when Jan. 20, it’s a moot point,” Rogers said. “My preference would have been that we just let the president, on Jan. 20, deal with these … which he’s already indicated he’s going to do.”

Speaking on the House floor Tuesday evening, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, indirectly chastised Rogers for opposing the inclusion of the aforementioned TRICARE provision and demanded representatives fulfill their “constitutional obligation” to use the “power of the purse” to enact such changes rather than solely rely on the executive branch.

“I heard some rumbling on this side of aisle that the speaker shouldn’t have included that language in the bill. The Speaker was exactly right to include that language in the bill,” Roy said. “The people just want a military that’s lethal again. They just want a military that’s not ‘woke,’ that isn’t going through all sorts of nonsense trainings at the academies or at the Pentagon itself. And they sure as hell don’t want their taxpayer dollars going to the mutilation of children.”

The Texas congressman further criticized House Democrats for their opposition to the provision and GOP leadership for failing to include significant conservative priorities in the finalized FY2025 NDAA. “There are a variety of reasons to oppose this legislation because we can do better,” Roy said.

As noted by Roy, the “negotiated” NDAA includes numerous sections devoted to subjects unrelated to national defense. For example, Title 53 devotes an entire section to “natural resources matters” that focuses on conservation of endangered animal species, such as elephants and tigers.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood