WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Senate has passed a massive annual defense bill that would deliver a 5.2% pay raise for service members and keep the nation鈥檚 military operating, avoiding partisan policy battles with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.
Senate passage, 86-11, sets up a clash with the House, which passed its own version of the earlier this month after pointed debates over social issues like abortion access and diversity initiatives. The sharply partisan arguments over the House legislation veered from a bipartisan tradition of finding consensus on national defense policy.
The strong bipartisan vote for the legislation in the Senate Thursday evening, just before the Senate left for its August recess, could give it momentum as the two chambers next look to settle their differences in the fall.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said there is a 鈥済laring contrast鈥 between the two chambers' defense bills. The Senate had no 鈥渁nimus or acrimony,鈥 in contrast to the House's partisan battles, he said.
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think either party got exactly what they wanted鈥 in the Senate bill. But he said the legislation would help the military improve recruitment and prevent conflict.
The two chambers will now have to write a final bill, a test of the deeply divided House, in particular, as the traditionally bipartisan legislation was swept up in the disputes over race, equity and women鈥檚 health care that have been political priorities for the Republican party.
Wicker said talks with the House will start 鈥渧ery soon鈥 and he feels confident they will be able to pass the legislation, as Congress has annually since 1961.
鈥淲e always have,鈥 Wicker said.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the Armed Services panel, predicted the bipartisan Senate approach would mostly prevail.
鈥淭he fact that we鈥檙e going to have a strong bipartisan approach on it says that we鈥檙e probably closer to where we鈥檙e going to end up than what the House has done on a partisan basis,鈥 said Rounds.
The massive Senate defense bill would set defense spending levels at $886 billion for the coming year, similar to President Joe Biden鈥檚 budget request. Congress has to pass separate spending legislation to allocate the money, but the defense legislation lays out budget and policy for the Pentagon.
The House debate earlier this month was marked by amendments from hardline conservatives that were adopted and pushed the bill to the right 鈥 including proposals to roll back diversity and inclusion measures at the Pentagon and to block some medical care for transgender personnel.
In the Senate, where most amendments need 60 votes to pass, additions to the bill were bipartisan and more focused on military policy, with many focused on countering potential American adversaries like Russia and China.
One bipartisan provision would require two-thirds of the Senate to approve if a U.S. president tries to withdraw from NATO. Former President Donald Trump, who is running again for his old office, has been deeply critical of the military alliance and repeatedly questioned its value to the U.S.
Rounds also joined with Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana to successfully push an amendment to the bill that would prevent agents of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing agricultural land in the U.S. Another bipartisan duo, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas and Bob Casey, D-Pa., pushed an amendment to increase Treasury Department oversight of U.S. investment into Russian and Chinese technology firms that work with 鈥渟ensitive technology,鈥 such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
Another provision that won support from both parties would allow the Treasury Department to use sanctions against people and organizations involved in the international fentanyl trade.
Also included is language sponsored by Schumer requiring the government to collect records relating to 鈥 " 鈥 the official term the U.S. government uses instead of unidentified flying objects 鈥 and review whether they need to stay classified. The amendment would allow the release of some of those records over time.
Still unresolved, though, is Alabama the quick confirmation of hundreds of military nominations and promotions in the Senate. Tuberville is protesting the Defense Department鈥檚 abortion policy, which covers the cost of travel for service members seeking abortion and reproductive care.
Tuberville has shown little interest in backing down even as some of his fellow Republican senators have encouraged him to drop it. He is preventing quick action on over 260 nominations of senior military officers, including and others, frustrating leaders at the Pentagon and his own colleagues.
The House bill contains a provision that would end the Defense Department's new abortion policy. But that would not pass the Democratic-led Senate.
Biden called Tuberville's hold 鈥渙utrageous鈥 in a speech at the 好色tv Archives Thursday evening.
鈥淭here is a growing cascade of damage and disruption all because of one senator from Alabama," Biden said.
Biden's administration did appear to work out a deal on nominations with a different Republican senator late Thursday. After meetings with State Department officials during the day, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul released his holds on several department nominees. The Senate later confirmed more than a dozen ambassadors, including former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell as ambassador to Italy.
Hours earlier, Paul told reporters he was working with the department to receive more information on projects in China that were funded by the U.S. government.
___
Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
