House Republicans channel America’s culture wars into Pentagon budget battle

The Republican-led House is expected to vote as soon as this week on an $886 billion bill that aims to shape Pentagon policy next year, but its path to passage faces a potentially messy partisan battle over abortion access, LGBTQ rights, efforts to promote diversity in the military and other politically charged social issues.

The House version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes increased investment in precision missiles, warships and newer technologies like artificial intelligence and hypersonics - core bipartisan priorities as the Pentagon directs greater attention toward China. It also authorizes a 5.2 percent base pay increase for military personnel and expanded support for their families through housing improvements, and broader access to child care, health care and education benefits.

“The threat posed by China is real, and it represents the most pressing national security challenge we’ve faced in decades,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) told colleagues in remarks Tuesday. The defense bill, he added, was designed “with that underlying goal: to deter China.”

But it is the country’s intensifying culture-war battles, not any specific approach to U.S. national security, likely to attract the most vociferous debate as lawmakers consider amendments to the bill in the coming days. While it is widely considered one of the few must-pass pieces of legislation Congress takes up each year, some members and their staffers have warned that inserting contentious issues like abortion into the bill could derail the process entirely, complicating U.S. defense strategy and funding for the coming year.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday seemed to concede that the rancor surrounding some amendments could lead to delays. “We’re going to get it passed,” he said, adding, “It doesn’t have to be on a specific time.”

“It’s not how you start,” he said. “It’s how you finish.”

The Senate has yet to schedule a vote on its version of the bill. The two chambers will ultimately meet to reconcile any differences before the legislation can move to President Biden for approval. The White House has criticized aspects of the House measure, which has diverged in some key ways from the proposal that the administration sent to Congress.

The bill, approved last month by the House Armed Services Committee on a 58-1 vote, succeeds in “pushing back against the radical woke ideology being forced on our servicemen and women,” according to a summary of the legislation released last month by committee Republicans.

The House bill would ban drag shows and the teaching of critical race theory in the military while rolling back initiatives, passed by the Democratic-controlled House in previous years, meant to foster diversity and inclusion within the Defense Department. That includes eliminating the department’s chief diversity officer position and a department working group designed to counter extremism in the ranks.

Also built into the House bill is a plan to offer reinstatement to service members who defied the military’s coronavirus vaccine requirement, since repealed, and were discharged for their refusal to do as they were told. That component of the legislation “sets a dangerous precedent that not following lawful orders is an option for service members,” the Biden administration warned.

On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee began evaluating the more than 1,540 amendments that House lawmakers have sought to insert into the defense policy bill. Among the record number of proposals are scores that have little to do with defense, including efforts to change laws governing concealed firearms, environmental standards, drug penalties and immigration policy. One seeks to declare the month of July “American Pride Month” - to bolster patriotism.

Not all amendments will be debated on the House floor, but some moderate Republicans worry that the influence of three far-right lawmakers who sit on the committee - Reps. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) - could prioritize the most polarizing proposals for consideration.

One amendment with more than 60 Republican co-sponsors would prohibit the Pentagon “from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services,” the measure says. Conservatives have zeroed in on the policy, adopted in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision repealing the constitutional right to an abortion, that protects service members who must travel out of state to obtain the procedure.

A group of swing-district Republicans has vowed to defeat certain abortion-related amendments if they reach the House floor, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal discussions. Many House Democrats have said they would not vote to pass the defense bill if it includes an amendment that repeals the policy.

In an interview, the armed services committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), charged that “a few Republicans hijacked the bill to push their social agenda and their extreme MAGA agenda” - referring to “Make America Great Again,” a rallying cry among conservatives loyal to former president Donald Trump. Democrats have sought to portray “MAGA Republicans” as espousing the party’s most polarizing and dangerous views, including those concerning abortion, equality and LGBTQ rights.

“We’ve taken some steps over the four years that we were in the majority to get the Pentagon to make sure that they did a better job of recruiting and making sure that people in historically marginalized communities - primarily LGBTQ women and people of color . . . know that they’re welcome within the military, because historically they have not been,” Smith said, referring to Republican proposals to repeal those measures.

The country’s armed forces are facing a major recruiting challenge, Smith noted, and eliminating diversity and inclusion initiatives hinders the military’s ability to recruit talented individuals from marginalized groups.

Lawmakers also are divided - though not always along party lines - over the administration’s approach to China and Ukraine. More than 60 amendments concern U.S. policy toward China, Chinese people or Chinese entities, including some that Democrats say appear to be racist.

Republicans also submitted nearly 20 separate amendments to cut back on or eliminate U.S. security assistance to Ukraine and NATO - proposals that stoked debate Tuesday and are likely to expose intraparty tensions if they go to the House floor.

“We should not be devoting time and resources and putting the people of Ukraine over American citizens,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said, urging her colleagues to consider three proposals she introduced to defund the war effort in Ukraine.

Leading Republicans in the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday urged their Rules Committee colleagues to stick to relevant amendments, with Rogers imploring them to focus on those “that advance the security of our nation and the needs of our service members.”

In the Senate, the partisan rift over abortion access has had enormous implications for the military’s promotion process. For the past seven months, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has blocked military confirmations and promotions in the Senate Armed Services Committee in a bid to pressure the Pentagon to abandon its policy.

As a consequence, the Marine Corps this week witnessed the departure of its top general without a Senate-confirmed successor.

Vigorous floor debate is important, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said in an interview Tuesday. But ultimately, “all of us need to look at getting behind a bill that ensures that our men and women of the military will have the tools they need to be the most lethal and effective fighting force in the world.”

Committee members in both parties have sought to emphasize the legislation’s bipartisan wins, including its robust funding to bolster the defense industrial base - a deepening concern as the Pentagon has raided its stocks of artillery munitions to aid Ukraine - and modernize the military by retiring outdated aircraft, ships and weapons systems while investing in the development of advanced satellites, drones and munitions.

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The Washington Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.