The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed an annual defense policy bill on Tuesday night that did not include most of the Republican-led culture-war provisions that sparked a lengthy impasse.
The Senate voted 84–13 in favor of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which sets spending levels for the Pentagon for fiscal 2021 and establishes defense policy.
The bill had stalled in the Senate for months amid disputes over controversial policy objectives included in the House version, such as language banning Confederate names from military bases and renaming Senate-confirmeed military personnel.
The Senate’s version of the NDAA avoids the culture war debates and is largely similar to the House-passed version, with few significant differences. Notably, the bill does not include the 3 percent pay raise that the House version mandated for service members or language banning Turkish F-35 fighter jets from U.S. airspace.
The Senate’s version will likely be reconciled with the House version in a joint conference committee, which will produce an amendment to the final legislation. The final legislation must pass both chambers before it can be sent to the president for signing.
