Space Policy Online By Marcia Smith December 23, 2024
President Biden signed the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act into law this evening despite his strong opposition to a social policy provision added at the last minute by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The NDAA sets policy for the Department of Defense. Congress has passed an NDAA every year since the first in 1961 during even the most strained political circumstances because they view it as critical legislation.
With one exception, Presidents have signed the bills despite provisions to which they object as Biden did today. The bill prohibits medical treatment for transgender military dependents under 18. Many Democrats and some Republicans also opposed it. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) was one of them, not because of the substance, but because he expects incoming President Trump to implement such a ban so there was no need to put it in the NDAA. Rogers said Johnson didn’t consult him about it. Nonetheless, the House passed the bill on December 11 and the Senate on December 18.
Trump is the only President to veto an NDAA. He objected to language in the FY2021 NDAA that established a commission to decide on renaming military facilities that honor Confederate soldiers. Congress overrode his veto.
Biden did not veto this NDAA despite the anti-transgender language, but left no doubt about his disapproval: “The provision targets a group based on that group’s gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children. This section undermines our all-volunteer military’s ability to recruit and retain the finest fighting force the world has ever known by denying health care coverage to thousands of our service members’ children. No service member should have to decide between their family’s health care access and their call to serve our Nation.”
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https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/biden-signs-the-fy2025-ndaa/
