House Passes Final FY2025 NDAA

The FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act cleared the House today. Congress has passed an NDAA every year since the first in 1961 regardless of rancorous divisions and appears on track to keep that record intact this year. The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week.

The NDAA is a policy bill. It recommends funding levels, but only appropriations bills actually provide money. In recent years defense authorizers and appropriators have been pretty much in step, however.

This bill recommends $883.7 billion, of which $849.9 billion is for DOD. The remainder is for the Department of Energy ($33.3 billion) which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, and other defense activities ($0.5 billion).

The most controversial aspect of the NDAA this year, however, was not about money. Instead it was social policy provisions included by House Republicans against abortion, diversity, and LGBTQ rights. They apparently were removed during negotiations with the Senate, but at the last minute House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) inserted a provision prohibiting medical treatment for transgender military dependents under 18. As reported by The Hill, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) objected to Johnson adding it to the bill because he expects incoming President Trump to implement such a ban the day he takes office so there is no need to add it to the NDAA. He said Johnson did not consult him about it.

Separately, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top HASC Democrat, said “this harmful provision puts the lives of children at risk.”

Nonetheless, the bill, H.R. 5009, passed 281-140.  The bill’s title is “Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year FY2025,” but a different bill, the WILD Act (regarding wildlife conservation) was used as the legislative vehicle for its passage.

From a policy perspective, perhaps the most controversial provision in the U.S. Space Force section is a requirement for the Air Force to transfer space functions of the Air National Guard to the Space Force. The National Guard Association of the United States, NGAUS, has been leading opposition to this proposal and, in April, 53 governors (including Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico) signed a letter opposing it.  Calling it a “backroom deal,” NGAUS reiterated its intense objections on Tuesday, calling it an “existential threat to state authority over the National Guard” and vowing “this fight is far from over.”

Apart from that, the bill is generally supportive of the Space Force, although it recommends less funding 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.

In all, the request for the Space Force was $29.4 billion and this would be a recommended cut of at least $872 million. Actual funding will come in the appropriations bill, which Congress is still debating.  DOD and other agencies in the discretionary part of the federal budget are operating under a Continuing Resolution that expires on December 20. Congress is expected to pass an extension through March 2025, so the final numbers won’t be known until then.

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 Senate is expected to take up the bill next week.  Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), currently the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and expected to take over as chair in the new Congress, is expressing his dissatisfaction with the bill because it does not include the $25 billion funding increase approved by SASC. “Not only does this NDAA thwart the bipartisan will of the Senate, but it signifies a profound missed opportunity to strengthen President-elect Trump’s hand when he takes office,” he said.

Congressional determination to pass an NDAA every year has stood the test of time, even in 2020 when then-President Trump vetoed the bill over a requirement that a commission be established to make recommendations on renaming military installations named for Confederate soldiers. The House and Senate overrode his veto. Top Republicans agreed with him on that issue, but did not think it should tank the entire bill.