Conservatives Secure NDAA Wins
December 12, 2024 | Washington, D.C.
by Tabitha Walter, Executive Director, Eagle Forum
UPDATE: According to U.S. Rep Tim Burchett, this bill is not what the people voted for. “We just passed the NDAA. I voted against it. There’s half a billion in there, literally, of foreign aid. This is not what you all voted for. You have members’ family members who are lobbyists on this stuff.”
The long-awaited National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) came out of the joint House and Senate conference committee this week. For the first time in years, no doubt in response to President Trump’s overwhelming election win, the bill contains many conservative policy wins and cuts $35 billion in wasteful spending.
House Version
The House-passed version (H.R. 8070) contained a lot of good, conservative policies such as a ban on funding medical procedures for military personnel and their children to “change genders,” and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) positions while keeping the selective service for males only. There were dangerous provisions in that bill as well, including a provision to allow military recruiters to ignore positive marijuana tests for new recruits and an expansion of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) services (currently only for soldiers injured in the line of duty) to all service people and their dependents.
Senate Version
The Senate-passed version of the NDAA (S. 4638) was very problematic. Earlier this year, the Senate Armed Services Committee included a provision to require women ages 18-24 to register for the selective service. Additional language was included that claimed to prohibit women from combat roles if drafted. But a compulsory draft is used in wartime to bolster the number of combat troops so excluding drafted women from combat is nonsensical. Drafting women harms the nation because young women will be prevented from starting families or raising their own children. In addition, the Senate bill expanded coverage of not just IVF but the larger umbrella of “artificial reproductive technology” (ART) which includes cloning and the creation of animal-human hybrids. The cost of these services could cost taxpayers upwards of $1 billion per year.
Grassroots Action Paid Off
Eagle Forum took immediate action to engage the grassroots to urge Members of the House and Senate to remove the provisions regarding women in the draft, marijuana, and IVF expansions. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) echoed our sentiments by saying, “It will be over my dead body that I’m going to allow my daughter to get drafted.” Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) described the elimination of this draft provision as “a hill to die on.”
All your work contacting Congress paid off. The conference committee’s final product eliminated the language to draft our daughters and expand IVF and ART. The House’s pro-marijuana policy was dropped as well.
There is some good news on transgender and DEI issues, too. The House’s measure prohibiting “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for children under 18 years old and prohibits TRICARE, the military’s medical insurance, from funding these procedures was maintained. Unfortunately, gender transition surgeries are still allowed for adults.
Laying the Groundwork for Additional Change
One provision that did not make it into the final version is one that we hope will be included in upcoming legislation and be addressed at the Department of Defense. The Biden administration implemented a reimbursement program for women who travel across state lines to obtain an abortion. With Pete Hegseth waiting to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense for the Trump administration, we anticipate that this policy will be eliminated as well as all other “woke” provisions that have weakened our nation’s defenses.
To receive this many wins with a slim Republican majority in the House and a Democrat majority in the Senate is a true Christmas gift. Perhaps the Democrats are reconsidering their extreme stances after a blowing defeat in the November elections. The final version of the NDAA passed the House by a 281-140 vote. We expect the NDAA to pass the Senate as well, which will lay the groundwork for many more victories by the incoming Trump administration.