Defense bill drops disputed abortion provisions in final compromise
By Leo Shane III
Dec 7, 11:54 AM
House and Senate negotiators released their compromise draft of the annual defense authorization bill late Wednesday night, stripping out a host of controversial social issues in favor of advancing a 5.2% pay raise for troops and re-upping a host of needed provisions for Defense Department operations next year.
The legislation — which spans nearly 2,400 pages, not including additional report language — sets nearly all of the military’s new policy provisions and spending priorities for the year. It is viewed as a must-pass bill by most lawmakers and has successfully advanced through Congress for more than six decades, even among partisan strife in the House and Senate.
But the separate House and Senate drafts of this year’s authorization bill were packed with an array of controversial issues, endangering bipartisan support for the final compromise.
House Republicans had included provisions eliminating the Defense Department’s abortion access policy for troops, banning certain military care for transgender service members, eliminating the post of chief diversity officer for the department and prohibiting all future mask mandates for pandemic prevention efforts throughout the ranks.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/12/07/defense-bill-drops-disputed-abortion-provisions-in-final-compromise/
