With the House of Representatives passing their version of the NDAA on
Friday, they and the Senate are gearing up to try to reconcile their
respective versions to get something to the president to sign.
That’s going to be an uphill battle this year,
as the two versions of the NDAA are wildly different. The House version
includes a lot of amendments aimed to limit the president’s war-making
powers, and the Senate leadership broadly refused to allow these sorts
of amendments to be debated and voted upon.
And if the Senate’s Republican leaders didn’t want to let the floor vote
on those amendments, they’re certainly not going to let the House
version through. Many are considering the House amendments
“non-starters.”
It’s not clear how the House Democrats are going to respond. Clearly, a
lot of the House was very eager to get a chance to debate and vote on
these measures, and probably aren’t going to be happy if the leadership
just lets the Senate strip everything out in the name of getting
something President Trump will want to sign.
Indeed, the House passage of these amendments was the only way a lot of
these issues were ever going to get any hearing in the Senate. On top of
that, sending it to President Trump over a veto threat would be part of
the point of Congress reestablishing its own foreign policy autonomy
using the power of the purse.
House and Senate Head for Showdown on NDAA
Senate Republicans say House NDAA amendments are 'non-starters'
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