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WASHINGTON — Following a spirited debate over social issues, the House Appropriations Committee today approved their fiscal 2024 defense spending bill, with a $886 billion national security topline.
By and large, today’s approved draft spending bill maintains the defense subcommittee’s plans to provide the Department of Defense with $826 billion in new discretionary funds next year. It fully funds some top Pentagon priorities, such as the B-21 bomber and the Columbia-class submarine, while preventing it from pursuing multi-year munition contracts.
While Republican committee members spent today praising the bill and urging its quick passage, Democrats used the markup meeting to push back on a host of issues included in the legislation that range from prohibitions on funds for military recruiting programs featuring drag queens; spending on diversity, equity and inclusion activities; and funding service member’s leave for abortion-related services.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said the pending legislation was “loaded with extraneous riders” designed to support the “Republican cultural war,” while Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. called it a “poison pill.”
The panel did adopt a Democrat’s amendment to the proposed bill today aimed at countering waste, fraud and abuse by requiring the Pentagon to submit a report on contract pricing data. A more controversial Republican en bloc amendment was also adopted that includes funding for a special inspector general to examine Ukraine spending, a ban on gay pride flags on military facilities and the defunding of the Pentagon office charged with overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Now that the draft legislation has cleared the committee, it will be sent to the House floor for consideration. In the meantime, though, Senate Democrats are leading the charge on their own version of the spending bill that is sure to be void of many of the controversial social issues sprinkled throughout the House version. It will then be up to House and Senate conferees to bridge the vast chasm between their two versions and craft a compromise one that both chambers’ members will support.
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