The Pentagon’s budget raises controversy in Congress… and is a first step towards its approval

On Friday, US lawmakers took the first step towards approving the Pentagon’s annual budget, in a vote with a very narrow margin, after Republicans added to the legislation a set of measures related to the “cultural war.”

The National Defense Authorization Act green-lights $886 billion in funding requested by President Joe Biden for defense programs for 2024, giving soldiers a 5.2 percent pay raise, providing $300 million in aid to Ukraine and buying nine new ships for the Navy.

But House Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the usually uncontroversial legislation, after Republicans added several “conservative” provisions.

“What was once an example of compromise and effective government has become an anthem of intolerance and ignorance,” said a statement by a group of senior Democratic lawmakers headed by Adam Smith, the most senior Democrat on the Armed Forces Committee.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy needed near-unanimous support from his party’s five-seat majority to pass the 1,200-page text, 219-210.

And he has bowed to right-wing pressure to add provisions that will almost certainly be dropped in negotiations with the Democratic-led Senate, which begins debating its version of the legislation next week.

Republicans have pushed ahead with amendments to curtail “diversity programs” at the Pentagon, ban LGBT flags on military bases, and end funding for medical services for transgender people.

As has often been the case lately in Washington, the issue of the right to abortion has turned out to be one of the main outstanding issues.

And former White House physician Ronnie Jackson, now a Republican lawmaker, introduced a provision barring the Department of Defense from covering travel expenses for service members who need to cross state lines to have an abortion.

Lois Frankel, president of the Women’s Democratic Caucus, said in a statement, “These agents are leaving their homes, their families, and their friends, and they are willing to risk their lives to serve our nation.”

“However, House Republicans are insisting on denying their reproductive freedom and rescinding a policy that would ensure they are able to travel for abortion care.”

The issue has become a major concern in the Pentagon Senator Tommy Tuberville blocksa Republican, made more than 250 promotions and appointments as a condition for moving forward with the department canceling this policy.

As a result, the Marine Corps remains without a proven commander in office for the first time in 164 years, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the Tuberville protest, now in its fifth month, had become a “national security issue”.