Conservative demands on defense bill pressure House GOP leaders to bend

Conservative pressure to address hot-button issues like abortion, diversity initiatives and Ukraine funding is complicating efforts from House Republican leaders to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), spurring a creative procedural fix to keep floor action on the bill moving while larger issues remain unresolved.

Some conservatives want to see amendments to reverse a Pentagon policy to reimburse service members for travel expenses if they get an abortion. Others want to gut diversity and inclusion programs. And several proposed amendments take aim at any further assistance to Ukraine, from providing cluster bombs to further funds, that could come in a separate supplemental piece of legislation rather than the NDAA.

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) emerged from a meeting late Tuesday with members of the House Freedom Caucus — of which he is not a member — saying changing the Pentagon abortion policy is his “red line.” Others, like Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), said Ukraine spending issues were important.

“We need to make sure that we’re changing the culture of the Department of Defense back to defense, not social engineering,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the Freedom Caucus and the House Rules Committee.

The House Rules Committee reconvened late Tuesday night after a six-and-a-half-hour recess with a creative solution to keep House floor action moving on the bill as it works to resolve other issues. The rule clears 290 NDAA amendments for floor votes — but the committee will have to return to deal with the controversial amendments. 

The move buys GOP leaders time, but the House cannot move to final passage on the bill without another rule vote.

Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), the House Rules Committee’s top Democrat, prodded Republicans for the move.

“Once again, Republicans are fighting with Republicans in the back room about how to make what should have been a bipartisan bill into a hyper-partisan bill,” McGovern said. “The dysfunction of watching the right wing fight with the extreme right wing is just embarrassing. And I wish you luck in trying to solve this internal struggle.”

By the time the House Rules Committee started consideration of the bill on Tuesday, members had filed more than 1,500 amendments for consideration — leaving the committee with the monumental task of determining which of them are germane to the legislation and whether they should get a floor vote or addition to the bill at all.

House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said some GOP members who criticized Democrats for using must-pass bills as a “Christmas tree,” but are now trying to use the NDAA to try to address their own issues.

“It’s not like this thing didn’t go through a lot of amendments in committee,” Cole said. “A lot of time, this is stuff popping up at the last minute.”

Several conservative members signaled they do not expect — or want — the House to complete consideration of the NDAA this week as they push for certain measures.

“The NDAA doesn’t have to pass this week. Why are we rushing through this?” asked Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chairman of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus. “I’d like to see it be right and righteous.”

“This thing is in such early stages, really, of having a final product,” said Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.). “I really believe it’s going to be a while.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday he is “very confident” the House will pass the NDAA, but he declined to put a timeline on passage, saying he has never said the NDAA will pass this week.

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We want to finish right,” McCarthy said.

The committee-passed version of the bill already bans drag shows and any training that promotes critical race theory, a concept that examines the impact of how systematic racism has impacted American laws and institutions. But it does not address the Pentagon policy on abortion, and some members want it to go further in other areas.

The risk of allowing some of those amendments to move forward is that they could be poison pills for the bill, jeopardizing Democratic support — which Republican leaders will likely need to pass the bill, given the GOP’s slim majority and the history of hard-line conservatives voting against the NDAA on the floor in the past. 

Leaders of the New Democrat Coalition, a group representing nearly 100 center-left Democrats,  on Tuesday called on McCarthy to reject “extreme elements” of his party.

Some more-moderate Republicans who are skeptical of the right-wing amendment pushes, too.

“This thing about no funding for DEI training has got to be explained,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), referring to diversity, equity and inclusion. “What does that mean? In 1985 I had training on, if you’re racist, we’re gonna kick you out.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said she has not read all of the abortion-related amendments, but she warned there will be “political consequences” for Republicans if they do not handle the issue correctly.

“As a woman, as a suburban mom, female lawmaker, we have got to show that we care about women, that we’re gonna be compassionate, and I hope that we do not drop the ball this week,” Mace said.

When asked about reversing the Pentagon abortion travel policy in the NDAA, McCarthy signaled that the issue could be dealt with in other upcoming legislation.

“We have appropriations, there’s a number of places where I believe that amendment will come up, and so there’ll be opportunity,” McCarthy said.

Mychael Schnell contributed.