Senate Begins Consideration of 2024 National Defense Bill

The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on June 1, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Senate voted on July 18 to begin consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2024, bringing it one step closer to a final passage.

Senators voted 72 to 25 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to its version of the bill, which sets forth policies for Department of Defense (DOD) programs and activities, as well as military construction, and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national security programs.

While the bill authorizes appropriations, it does not provide budget authority.

The $886 billion defense package authorizes $844.3 billion for the DOD and $32.4 billion for national security programs within the DOE.

It also includes a 5.2 percent pay raise for both military servicemembers and the DOD civilian workforce, according to a summary (pdf) from the Senate Armed Services Committee, and extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) through fiscal year 2027.

Other notable provisions in the bill are increased funding for a number of initiatives to respond to evolving threats, including research on foreign malign influence operations and a “comprehensive training, advising, and institutional capacity-building program for the military forces of Taiwan,” amid increasingly aggressive actions from China.

In addition, the bill would extend the DOD’s authority to “provide training for Eastern European national military forces in the course of multilateral exercises” and modifies the authority to “include the Republic of Kosovo among the list of countries eligible to receive training” amid rising tensions in the Balkans.

Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Ronald Raegan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on April 5, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

House Passes NDAA

Elsewhere the bill funds a joint DOD-NNSA program to “develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile to address China’s nuclear breakout and Russia’s continued aggression.”

It also includes measures aimed at countering fentanyl trafficking and cracking down on transnational criminal organizations.

While speaking on the Senate floor prior to the vote, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted that Democrats and Republicans have worked “in good faith” to pass the NDAA for more than six decades, and said he hopes lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will continue to have an “open and constructive amendment process” for the 2024 NDAA, “without needless delay or dilatory tactics.”

The Republican-controlled House earlier this month passed its own version of the NDAA that includes amendments to restrict abortion coverage and transgender procedures, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives at the Department of Defense, among other things.

Specifically, the House NDAA includes provisions that repeal the Pentagon’s new policy reimbursing travel costs for military members who seek abortions from states where such procedures are allowed. It also bans Pentagon health care programs from providing surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender personnel.

That version also includes more standard provisions, such as increasing America’s nuclear deterrent and a 5.2 percent military pay increase.

Senate majority leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks to the media following the weekly policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on June 21, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

‘Potentially Toxic Amendments’

Most Democrats voted against that version of the bill, which will likely lead to lengthy negotiations in the future.

“I certainly hope we do not see the kind of controversy that severely hindered the NDAA process over in the House. Both sides should defeat potentially toxic amendments and refrain from delaying the NDAA’s passage,” Mr. Schumer said Tuesday, noting that the Senate has so far avoided any controversy, and that over the weekend, nearly all the committees across the Senate worked “round the clock on a substitute, with a manager’s package that has 51 amendments, 21 from Republicans, 21 from Democrats, and nine bipartisan.”

“We’ve had many great amendments. This is a good start, and we are working toward a second manager’s package with even more priorities for Democrats and Republicans,” he said.

The New York Democrat also stressed that he was particularly proud of provisions in the Senate version of the bill aimed at increasing oversight of artificial intelligence, strengthening Washington’s partnership with Taiwan, and increasing transparency with regard to UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UFOs.

Once the Senate has passed its version of the bill, both chambers will begin negotiations on a compromise package that can pass both the House and the Senate before it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.