The following report is by Reuters:
The House backed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by 310 to 118, with strong support from Republicans and Democrats. It was more than the two-thirds majority required to pass the measure and send it to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Separate from the appropriations bills that set government spending levels, the NDAA authorizes everything from pay raises for troops – this year’s will be 5.2% – to purchases of ships, ammunition and aircraft.
Because it is one of the few major pieces of legislation that becomes law every year, members of Congress use it as a vehicle for a wide range of initiatives. It is also closely watched by major defense companies, such as Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp and other firms that receive Department of Defense contracts.
The vote for this year’s bill, which is nearly 3,100 pages long and authorizes a record $886 billion, up 3% from last year, meant that Congress has passed an NDAA for 63 straight years.
The final version of the NDAA left out provisions addressing divisive social issues, such as access to abortion and treatment of transgender service members, that had been included in the version passed by the Republican-majority House over the objections of Democrats, threatening to derail the legislation.
The Democratic-controlled Senate backed the NDAA, also with a strong bipartisan majority – 87 to 13 – on Wednesday.
The fiscal 2024 NDAA also includes a four-month extension of a disputed domestic surveillance authority, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
That provision faced objections in both the Senate and House, but not enough to derail the bill. The Senate defeated an attempt to remove the FISA extension from the NDAA on Wednesday before voting to pass the defense measure.
The House and Senate had each passed their own versions of the NDAA earlier this year. The measure approved this week was a compromise between the two parties and two chambers.
The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, and the next one.
However, that figure is a tiny compared to the $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine Biden has asked Congress to approve to help Kyiv as it battles a Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
That emergency spending request is bogged down in Congress, as Republicans have refused to approve assistance for Ukraine without Democrats agreeing to a significant toughening of immigration law.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers at the Capitol on Tuesday to make his case for the funding requested by Biden, but emerged from the meetings without Republican commitments.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Additionally worth noting, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a press conference, “This important legislation not only authorizes a 5.2% pay increase for service members and civilian employees … but directly invests in America’s national security and military power projection to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
The DoD also said in a blog post, “While Ryder said the department applauds passage of the FY24 NDAA, it also urges congress to pass its supplemental budget request as well, which funds continued support to American partner nations and funds needed investments in the U.S. defense industrial base.”
Nothing here comes as a shock. “Peace is war” is the mantra and underlying philosophy here, and it’s how the U.S. makes its money. But, just like the Roman Empire, the United States is broken and overstretched. Going into next year, look to see the empire finally fall apart and be vastly weakened…
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war.
Psalm 68:30
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
The WinePress needs your support! If God has laid it on your heart to want to contribute, please prayerfully consider donating to this ministry. If you cannot gift a monetary donation, then please donate your fervent prayers to keep this ministry going! Thank you and may God bless you.
