House passes $901B defense bill with bipartisan support

The Home handed Nationwide Protection Authorization Act Wednesday, bringing the annual laws regulating Pentagon spending to the Senate.

The vote was 312 to 112, with 18 Republicans and 94 Democrats voting “no” on the invoice authorizing $901 billion in Warfare Division spending.

An earlier procedural vote on the laws barely handed 215-211 on the eleventh hour, after 4 Republicans: Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., all modified their votes from no to sure. All Democrats voted towards the voting process.

Home and Senate leaders have already mixed their very own variations of the laws into one negotiated package deal, which means it ought to transfer easily by the Senate and to the president. Donald Trump‘s desk.

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Hardline conservatives had spoken out towards the invoice’s inclusion of Ukrainian financing of $400 million a yr for 2 years and its omission of a provision that might ban the Federal Reserve from making a central financial institution digital forex (CBDC).

However conservatives had pushed the CBDC ban as a privateness and civil liberties measure, arguing {that a} government-issued digital greenback may give federal businesses the power to observe or limit particular person transactions.

The Home handed the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act on December 10, 2025, transferring annual laws that regulates Pentagon spending to the Senate. (Chip Somodevilla)

Different provisions strictly restrict Trump from decreasing troop presence in Europe and South Korea or pausing arms shipments to Ukraine. The invoice would additionally withhold 1 / 4 of Secretary of Warfare Pete Hegseth’s journey funds till the Pentagon fingers over uncooked footage of assaults on suspected drug trafficking boats close to Venezuela.

Speaker Mike Johnson is touting provisions that might supply enlisted troops a 4% pay elevate, get rid of variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) insurance policies, crack down on anti-Semitism, get rid of $20 billion in spending on “outdated packages” and “Pentagon forms” and insurance policies that crack down on China.

In a victory for conservative privateness hawks like Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the laws features a non-defense provision that might mandate disclosure by the FBI when the company investigated presidential candidates and different candidates for federal workplace.

Speaker Mike Johnson is touting provisions that might supply enlisted troops a 4% pay elevate, get rid of variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) insurance policies, crack down on anti-Semitism, get rid of $20 billion in spending on “outdated packages” and “Pentagon forms” and insurance policies that crack down on China. (Tom Brenner/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)

Congress needs to forestall the Pentagon from slicing American troops in Europe and South Korea

The reporting on in vitro fertilization (IVF) for army households, which has turn out to be a flashpoint in current days, is not included within the remaining NDAA. Neither is there a provision that stops states from regulating synthetic intelligence.

A key a part of the invoice establishes a system for screening outward investments, requiring U.S. corporations and traders to alert the Treasury Division in the event that they help sure dangerous applied sciences in China or different “international locations of concern.” The Treasury Division can block these offers outright or drive annual reporting to Congress.

One other provision prohibits the Pentagon from contracting with Chinese language corporations in genetic sequencing and biotechnology, and from buying objects corresponding to superior batteries, photovoltaic elements, pc screens and significant minerals sourced from overseas entities of concern corresponding to China.

The invoice would additionally withhold 1 / 4 of Secretary of Warfare Pete Hegseth’s journey funds till the Pentagon fingers over uncooked footage of assaults on suspected drug trafficking boats close to Venezuela. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

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Along with financial measures, the NDAA directs the Ministry of Overseas Affairs to deploy a brand new cadre of regional Chinese language officers to U.S. diplomatic posts world wide, answerable for monitoring Chinese language business, technological and infrastructure actions in each main geographic area, together with the Beijing Belt and Highway Initiative.

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The invoice additionally requires biennial reviews evaluating China’s world diplomatic presence with that of the US.

The invoice revokes two long-dormant warfare authorizations associated to earlier phases of U.S. army involvement in Iraq, 1992 and 2002, whereas leaving in place the first authority for countering terrorism after September 11, 2001. Authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), untouched.