House passes defense bill loaded with culture war amendments

Driving the news: The fiscal 2025 bill passed Friday 217-199, with the support of just six Democrats; Three Republicans opposed the measure, which Democratic leaders whipped their members against.

• Democrats took issue with amendments to pause DEI hires, prevent prevent federal funds from being used to provide gender transition medical procedures and to reimburse service members for travel expenses associated with receiving an abortion.
• Republicans lauded the measure for providing a pay raise for troops and expanding programs aimed at combatting adversaries, including a boost to programs aimed to preventing Chinese espionage and expanding U.S.-Israel military exercises.

By the numbers; The narrow margin of passage stands in stark contrast to past years, when defense authorization bill passed with wide bipartisan support.

• In 2022, for example, the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, passed the House in a 329-101 vote.

What's next: House passage tees up a battle with the Democrat-controlled Senate, which is unlikely to support the language in the House-passed bill.

• The Senate marked up its own $923.3 billion version of the bill Thursday, taking a much more bipartisan approach.
• A measure reflecting a yet-to-be-negotiated House-Senate compromise is likely to come the floor later this year.