Congress got this one done……
The Senate passed a defense bill on Wednesday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China’s growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895bn while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members.
The annual defense authorization bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass Congress in nearly six decades, but the Pentagon policy measure in recent years has become a battleground for cultural issues. Republicans this year sought to tack on to the legislation priorities for social conservatives, contributing to a months-long negotiation over the bill and a falloff in support from Democrats.
Still, the bill passed comfortably 85-14, sending it to Joe Biden. Eleven senators who caucus with Democrats, as well as three Republicans, voted against the legislation.
The bill “isn’t perfect, but it still includes some very good things that Democrats fought for”, said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, in a floor speech. “It has strong provisions to stand up against the Chinese Communist Party here on a national security basis.”
In the House, a majority of Democrats voted against the bill last week after House speaker Mike Johnson insisted on adding the provision to ban the military health system from providing transgender medical care for children. The legislation easily passed by a vote of 281-140.
Senate Republican leaders argued that its 1% increase for defense spending was not enough, especially at a time of global unrest and challenges to American dominance. Senate Republicans had argued for a generational boost to defense spending this year, but are planning another push for more defense funding once they control the White House and Congress next year…..
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