The House on Dec. 7 released its latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a crucial bill that dictates Pentagon funding levels and policy in the upcoming fiscal year.
The House’s draft of the bill comes in at 3,086 pages.
“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps advance President [Donald] Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement on the bill.
“This legislation ... roots out Biden-era wokeism in our military and restores merit-based promotions and admissions to service academies, prohibits contracts with partisan firms, counters antisemitism, and halts harmful, unnecessary programs like [critical race theory], [diversity, equity, and inclusion], and climate initiatives.”
The legislation differs from the one offered by the Senate, which passed its own draft of the NDAA in October.
House Republicans have particularly touted their bill’s inclusion of a 4 percent pay raise for members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The House draft of the NDAA would also expand U.S. counter-drone defenses and new technologies, enhance U.S. initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defenses and support America’s Indo-Pacific allies, make investments in shipbuilding, and strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and supply chains.
The bill includes provisions to counter Russia and communist China in technology and weapons development, including by strengthening the U.S. nuclear deterrent.
It also includes provisions related to Israel, including strengthening military operations with the U.S. ally and enhancing cooperative missile defense programs such as the Golden Dome.
It would also eliminate “programs that discourage military readiness,” such as critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and climate initiatives, according to a summary of the bill attached to Johnson’s statement.
The bill also supports the deployment of U.S. National Guard and active duty troops to the southern border to combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
It excludes a bipartisan measure that the Senate included in its version of the bill related to affordable housing. In a statement, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) commented on the absence, saying his panel would take up alternative legislation related to the goal in December.
“This month, the Financial Services Committee will advance solutions to tackle housing cost and access challenges for American families, homeowners, and renters,” Hill said in a statement. “Next year, we look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to send a bill to the president’s desk that reflects the views of both chambers and leads to more affordable choices for America’s homeowners and renters.”
If the bill passes the House, it will need to have its differences worked out with the U.S. Senate.














