Democrat and Republican lawmakers will hash out the next fiscal year\u2019s military spending budget, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), during this week\u2019s formal House-Senate conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., managed to score a victory before Congress broke for Thanksgiving recess to get the conference scheduled. A Wicker aide previously told Fox News Digital that if the conference process hadn\u2019t started before the recess, \u2018it wouldn\u2019t have happened this year\u2019 due to other priorities. The chambers will convene on Wednesday, according to the Senate schedule.<\/p>\n
According to a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) aide, top negotiators for the NDAA include Wicker, SASC Chairman Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., House Committee on Armed Services (HASC) Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and SASC ranking member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, which was first reported by Punchbowl, Wicker said Monday, \u2018There are a number of things that need to be fixed\u2019 in the NDAA.<\/p>\n
\u2018But things are moving,\u2019 he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Senate approved its version of the annual military defense bill with bipartisan support in July in an 86-11 vote, granting authorization for $886 billion over the next year to bolster national defense, right before the chamber\u2019s five-week August recess.<\/p>\n
Notably, in the Senate\u2019s version, military personnel will see a 5.2% pay increase, and it includes $9.1 billion to foster competitiveness with China, investments in advancing military drone technology, and $300 million in aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The Senate\u2019s bill avoids addressing the issues of abortion and transgender services. However, it does acknowledge the concerns expressed by Republicans about what they call an excessive influence of progressive policies within the Pentagon.<\/p>\n
As such, Senate Republicans were able to get provisions in the policy that prevent mandating the inclusion of preferred pronouns in official correspondence as well as a proposed hiring freeze on \u2018new diversity, equity, and inclusion positions.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Military readiness depends on the guarantee of equal opportunity, without the promise of an equal outcome, because warfare is a competitive endeavor and the nation\u2019s enemies must know that the United States Armed Forces is led by the best, brightest, and bravest Americans,\u2019 the bill text reads. \u2018The tenets of critical race theory are antithetical to the merit-based, all-volunteer, military that has served the country with great distinction for the last 50 years.\u2019<\/p>\n
Just two weeks prior to the Senate\u2019s passage, the House approved its version of the bill, which incorporated several Republican amendments aimed at dismantling the Pentagon\u2019s abortion policy for service members seeking procedures out of state as well as restricting transgender-affirming treatments.<\/p>\n
President Biden has previously indicated he would not sign a package filled with hardline GOP priorities like what\u2019s included in the House\u2019s version.<\/p>\n\n
Democrat and Republican lawmakers will hash out the next fiscal year\u2019s military spending budget, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), during this week\u2019s formal House-Senate conference.\u00a0 The ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., managed to score a victory before Congress broke for Thanksgiving recess to get the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}