A critical defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, is headed for President Joe Biden’s desk after passing both the House and Senate. The Act sets the policy agenda and authorizes funding for the Department of Defense annually.
The Senate passed the roughly 3,000-page measure which was a comprise deal, on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, the GOP-led House passed the Act which this year includes a 5.2% pay raise for military members.
The bill passed in the House 310-118, with 73 Republicans and 44 Democrats opposed to the bill, according to CSPAN which also included an extension of the the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The raise for military service members is the largest for them in over two decades, according to CNN. Additionally, The final negotiated version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2024 authorizes $886 billion in national defense funding, an increase of $28 billion over last year.
CNN writes according to a summary of the bill from the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee, the bill would also put in place a watchdog to oversee US aid to Ukraine in the form of a special inspector general as well as set up a collection at the National Archives of government records on unidentified anomalous phenomena, commonly known as UFOs, that will be accessible to the public.
The legislation does not include two controversial provisions related to abortion and transgender health care access, which were in the House defense policy bill that passed this summer.