WASHINGTON — The United States House passed a massive bill to fund the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2023, triggering a final vote in the Senate in the coming days that would send the $858 billion giant to the office of the President Joe Biden, where he should sign it.
The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with a strong bipartisan majority, 350 votes in favor and 80 votes against.
Among the more than 4,000 pages of legislation, it is demanded that the Pentagon drop its Covid vaccine mandate for active duty military personnel within 30 days of its enactment.
The mandate, originally put in place last year, has recently emerged as a lightning rod for conservative Republicans, who threatened to sink the entire bill if it is not overturned.
The National Defense Authorization Act (or NDAA) was released Tuesday night, after weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have both publicly stated that they oppose the vaccine term-ending provision.
But the Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, told the House on Thursday that now was a good time to end the vaccine requirement. His comment was seen as a strong signal that the White House will support the final bill.
Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, neither confirmed nor denied on Wednesday that Biden would sign the bill, instead telling reporters that Biden “will review the NDAA in its entirety and pass judgment there. -above”.
The House was originally scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday afternoon. But his procedural journey through the Rules Committee was stalled after members of the Congressional Black Caucus sought to force the John Lewis Voting Rights Act into the bill.
The NDAA is an annual tradition in Congress, where it is considered a “mandatory” bill because its enactment is necessary for military service members to receive their pay and benefits on time after Jan. 1, 2023.