The Senate united to pass its $925 billion defense policy bill Thursday — a bipartisan breakthrough that came despite an ongoing government shutdown fight that could soon cause all active-duty troops to miss a paycheck for the first time in U.S. history.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act cleared easily Thursday in a blowout vote, after Senate leaders struck a deal to break a monthlong impasse on the measure. Leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services committees will now attempt to negotiate a compromise bill that can pass by the end of the year.
The defense legislation — which sets military policy and the broad outlines of the Pentagon budget — was clinched in an 77-20 vote despite a shutdown that’s paralyzed Congress and kept most substantive legislation off the agenda. And when it comes to ensuring troops get paid on time, Congress remains deadlocked, with little indication that either party will relent to reopen the government. Top GOP leaders have also ruled out standalone legislation to continue paying military personnel, despite increasing bipartisan pressure.
Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) called the agreement “some good bipartisan news” amid the government funding standoff.
“We’re in an unfortunate period of hyperpartisanship,” Wicker said. “We are ready to show on both sides of the aisle that the Senate can act in the interest of national security and get something done on a bipartisan basis. For heaven’s sake, we need to do that at this moment.”
Congress has been at odds over a host of contentious defense issues — including whether to pass emergency legislation to keep paying troops during the shutdown, President Donald Trump’s deployments of the National Guard to U.S. cities and the repeated use of deadly military force against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean.
Though the Senate’s defense bill largely avoids those issues, senators took several votes on National Guard deployments and presidential war powers Thursday. Wicker also agreed to hold a hearing on the use of military personnel in American cities during floor debate, according to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
Just hours before the vote, Duckworth, an Armed Services Committee member, said she would block the bill until Wicker agreed to a hearing on the topic. She said the public hearing with administration officials will happen “in the coming weeks.”
Duckworth was joined by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, whose home state of Illinois is among the latest targets of Trump’s push to send the National Guard to cities. Guard soldiers from Texas began arriving in the Chicago area on Tuesday.
The pair decried the move as an attempt to weaponize the military against Democratic-led cities.
“Policing Americans in their own communities is not the National Guard’s job,” Duckworth said in a floor speech. “I cannot let him keep giving troops the middle finger while eroding the hard won trust and confidence they’ve earned from the American public over generations.”
“While the Guard is in Illinois now, it could be in your state next,” Durbin added.
Separately, the Senate weighed in for the first time on Trump’s repeated use of military strikes in the Caribbean Sea to destroy suspected drug smuggling vessels near Venezuela. A war powers resolution from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to block further strikes unless congress authorizes military action was blocked Wednesday, mostly along party lines.
The underlying policy legislation, which the Armed Services Committee approved in July, reflects the Senate’s bipartisan concerns that the Trump administration could pursue a major shift in Pentagon priorities. The administration has proposed keeping annual military spending flat this year and Pentagon officials are weighing a draft defense strategy that would prioritize protecting the homeland and Western Hemisphere over China.
Senators proposed a $32 billion hike to the defense budget, for a total price tag of $925 billion. The bill, though, only authorizes the defense budget, and lawmakers must enact a separate Pentagon funding bill to make the increase a reality.
The bill also would restrict the Pentagon from reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe and in South Korea. It includes legislation from Wicker to overhaul the Pentagon’s complex acquisition process to ramp up the defense industrial base and allow the military to more quickly field needed weapons and technology.
Thursday’s bipartisan vote contrasts with the near-party-line rift in the House. The lower chamber cleared a bill with numerous hard-right provisions with mostly Republican support.
The Senate and House next must form a joint conference committee to reconcile the two bills — including their differing price tags, acquisition reform proposals and provisions on contentious personnel issues.
Wicker’s counterpart, House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said leaders of the two committees aim to have a compromise bill ready by Thanksgiving.
