Biden Signs the FY2025 NDAA

President Biden signed the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act into law this evening despite his strong opposition to a social policy provision added at the last minute by House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The NDAA sets policy for the Department of Defense. Congress has passed an NDAA every year since the first in 1961 during even the most strained political circumstances because they view it as critical legislation.

With one exception, Presidents have signed the bills despite provisions to which they object as Biden did today. The bill prohibits medical treatment for transgender military dependents under 18. Many Democrats and some Republicans also opposed it.  House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) was one of them, not because of the substance, but because he expects incoming President Trump to implement such a ban so there was no need to put it in the NDAA. Rogers said Johnson didn’t consult him about it. Nonetheless, the House passed the bill on December 11 and the Senate on December 18.

Trump is the only President to veto an NDAA. He objected to language in the FY2021 NDAA that established a commission to decide on renaming military facilities that honor Confederate soldiers. Congress overrode his veto.

Biden did not veto this NDAA despite the anti-transgender language, but left no doubt about his disapproval: “The provision targets a group based on that group’s gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children.  This section undermines our all-volunteer military’s ability to recruit and retain the finest fighting force the world has ever known by denying health care coverage to thousands of our service members’ children.  No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our Nation.”

He also raised concerns about other provisions in the bill noting as many presidents do that some may encroach on his constitutional powers.  None of his objections appear to affect the national security space activities in the bill.

This bill, H.R. 5009, is generally supportive of the U.S. Space Force, but recommends less than requested. As detailed in the explanatory statement:

• Procurement is $3.794 billion, a reduction of $468.658 million from the $4.263 billion request;
• RDT&E is $18.371 billion, $328.399 million less than the $18.700 billion request; and
• Operations and Maintenance is $5.217 billion, $75.000 million less than the $5.292 billion request.

The authorization bill does not separate out Military Personnel funding by Service. The MilPers request was $1.2 billion.

The total request for the Space Force was $29.4 billion and this would be a recommended cut of at least $872 million.

Authorization bills can recommend funding levels — this one authorizes $883.7 billion, of which $849.9 billlion is for DOD — but only appropriations bills actually provide money.  Congress has not completed action on any of the FY2025 appropriations bills, including Defense, so how much Space Force will receive remains to be seen.  DOD and other departments and agencies are operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) through March 14, 2025. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III issued a statement today to say he’s glad a new CR was passed, as opposed to a government shutdown, but “[b]eing forced to rely on stopgap, temporary funding measures hamstrings the Department’s ability to plan for the future, bolster our ranks with new recruits, and tackle new challenges to American security.”

From a policy perspective, perhaps the most controversial provision in the Space Force section is a requirement for the Air Force to transfer space functions of the Air National Guard to the Space Force, which was strongly opposed by the National Guard Association of the United States.

The bill approves establishment of a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve akin to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet.  It also requires an annual briefing from the Chief of Space Operations on commercial solutions for the mission areas identified in the Space Force’s Commercial Space Strategy.

The final bill also includes provisions proposed by the Senate that extend the FAA’s “learning period” for commercial human spaceflight until January 1, 2028 and the FAA’s third-party indemnification authority for commercial launches to September 30, 2028.  Both are three-year extensions. Ordinarily those would be included in a commercial space bill, but no such bill cleared the 118th Congress and the learning period otherwise would have expired on January 1, 2025.