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On Wednesday, the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress passed a defense policy bill worth $892.6 billion, which will strengthen military readiness and raise the salaries of American service members, while at the same time banning gender-affirming treatment for service members and rejecting attempts to protect their access to abortion services.
This was reported by The New York Times.
The vote — 231 to 196, largely along party lines — reflected how Republicans in Congress have turned the Pentagon’s annual policy measure into a tool for dictating conservative social policy.
For the third year in a row, Republicans have added new restrictions to block initiatives on diversity, equity, and inclusion, a series of climate restrictions, and the increase of surplus military weapons flowing into a civilian firearms program — alienating even Democrats who initially supported it.
The stated goal of the bill was to streamline and modernize how the Pentagon defines and meets military needs, including through research, budgeting, contracting, manufacturing, and supply. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress criticized this process, which also angered players in the defense industry.
Despite the partisan nature of the final bill, it includes efforts supported by both conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats to restore congressional war powers after decades during which the executive branch gained broad authority to conduct military operations without lawmakers’ approval.
But while both Republicans and Democrats praised measures in the bill that they said would improve the Pentagon’s ability to carry out defense missions and strengthen the military, much of the debate was consumed by contentious disputes over several conservative social policy restrictions introduced by the Republican Party during the mostly party-line vote.
Some of these measures targeted transgender service members and their families, aligning with the Trump administration’s efforts to remove transgender personnel from the armed forces.
Despite Republicans’ broad opposition to providing military aid to Ukraine, the defense policy bill allocates $400 million for the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The House of Representatives rejected Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to cut Ukraine funding, with both Republicans and Democrats voting against it.
Lawmakers also added a requirement that the Pentagon report to Congress if the administration plans to cancel or suspend military aid to Ukraine approved by Congress. This appears to be an attempt to restore oversight powers after the Department of Defense decided this summer to pause aid deliveries to Ukraine without notifying lawmakers.
It is worth noting that in the version approved by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in July, $500 million was allocated for Ukraine aid.
Read also: Canada Monitors Russia’s Attempts to Expand War in Ukraine, PM Carney
