Senate passage of defense policy bills tees up fall fight with the House

The Senate left Washington for the August recess late Thursday night after passing its version of a massive defense policy bill, teeing up what promises to be a massive fight with the House over the legislation this fall.

The National Defense Authorization Act is considered must-pass legislation. Congress has cleared it every year for over 60 years. This year, though, the House and Senate passed vastly different versions of the bill after GOP-hardliners in the House attached several hot-button amendments to their legislation, putting the chambers on track for a major collision this fall as they work to reconcile differences between the legislation before year's end.

They'll need to grapple with discrepancies on a number of contentious culture-war issues such as abortion and gender-affirming care.

The version of the bill that the Senate voted on Thursday night is an $886 billion defense bill that includes provisions to counter China -- a top priority for Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer -- and extends aid for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.

Over the course of two weeks, the Senate considered over 90 amendments to its version of the defense policy bill, but most of the amendments considered were defense-related, and the end result was a broadly bipartisan bill that sailed through final passage by a vote of 86-11.

It was a different story in the House, where House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced backlash from Democrats and even moderates in his own party for using the usually-bipartisan defense bill as an opportunity to message on a variety of GOP-hardline priorities.

With the speaker's blessing, Freedom Caucus members received votes on and successfully included amendments in the package that targeted abortion and gender-affirming care for service members.

Weighed down by GOP-hardline amendments that proved to be poison pills for Democrats, the House's bill was decidedly less bipartisan than the Senate's, barely clearing the House floor in a 219-210 vote. All but four House Democrats opposed it during a mid-July vote.

When lawmakers return from recess, they will face the difficult process of reconciling the differences between these two bills.

Most glaring are differences in the way the two versions of the bill treat a current Department of Defense abortion policy that provides travel reimbursement for military service members who travel to receive an abortion in states where the procedure remains legal. The House bill strips this policy, while the Senate bill leaves it untouched.

The DoD policy, defended by Democrats, has caused headaches in the Senate due to the opposition of Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, who in response to it has for months been blocking confirmation of nearly all military promotions.

Tuberville's block has led nearly 300 nominees to stall on the floor, and has left high profile nominations like Charles Q. Brown's nomination to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to languish on the Senate floor.

At a press conference late Thursday night following passage of the bill, Schumer and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed stood by their decision to hold the line against Tuberville.

"This is the responsibility of the Republican Senate caucus," Schumer said "It's up to them. I think in August pressure is going to mount on Tuberville and I think the Republicans are feeling that heat," Schumer said.

The Senate majority leader also has the strong backing of President Joe Biden, who has made a point to call Tuberville out by name in recent weeks and describe his protest as irresponsible.

"Right now, tens of thousands of America's daughters and sons are deployed around the world tonight keeping us safe from immense national security challenges. But the senator from Alabama is not," Biden said in a speech Thursday night.

Because of Tuberville's blockade, there is no confirmed commandant of the Marine Corps for the first time in 100 years, Biden said, and by fall, there may not be a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown's prospective position, or leaders of the Army and Navy.

Biden called it a "growing cascade of damage and disruption."

"All because one senator from Alabama, and 48 Republicans who refuse to stand up to him, to lift the blockade over the Pentagon policy offering servicemen and women, their families access to reproductive health care rights they deserve, if they're stationed in states that deny it," Biden said.

In Congress, the reproductive health care policy has enough support to hold firm, despite Tuberville's opposition, leaving the protest with no end in sight because there is no formal pathway to eliminate it.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted down an amendment that would have rescinded the DoD abortion policy earlier this year. Schumer said he offered Tuberville the opportunity to hold a floor vote on the same amendment and that Tuberville rejected it.

"We are going into conference with the position that the Senate has basically concluded that the policy at the Department of Defense is both legal and one that should be retained, and we are going to stick to that position. I think we'll prevail," Reed said.

Despite the major differences, there is some common ground between the two bills. Both chambers included in their packages pay raises for service members, additional deterrence measures and funds to improve weapons technology.

The two chambers must reconcile their bills by the end of September.