The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2025 version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Friday, June 14th, with the aim of improving the treatment of American military personnel, enhancing deterrence against adversaries like the CCP, and urging the government to strengthen cooperation with Taiwan to enhance its defense capabilities.
However, driven by the Republican Party, an amendment to end woke ideology was added to the bill, which is expected to become a focal point of negotiation between the two parties when reconciling with the Senate version.
The House version of the NDAA for this year authorizes a record-breaking expenditure of $895 billion, a 1% increase from the previous year. The bill passed in the House with a vote of 217 to 199, with 6 Democrats in support and 3 Republicans voting against it.
On Friday, the Senate Armed Services Committee also released a summary version of the committee’s review, with detailed provisions expected to be announced in July.
Of particular note is the continued funding for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative in both versions to address the threat posed by the CCP.
The House version provides over $6.5 billion in funding for the Indo-Pacific Command and accelerates the development of new technologies needed to deter the CCP, such as hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence (AI), and drones. The bill requires the Pentagon to report to Congress on military cooperation with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, prohibits contracts with subsidiaries of any CCP “civil-military fusion” enterprises, sharing sensitive missile defense information with China, and bars Chinese citizens from entering nuclear facilities to prevent CCP espionage activities.
The bill also mentions strengthening Taiwan’s defense through arms sales, commercial cooperation, and defense industry collaboration, as well as increasing funding support for U.S. defense plans in the Indo-Pacific region.
In April of this year, U.S. media reported that Congress was considering authorizing the export of key weapon technology to Taiwan under the NDAA and manufacturing essential weapons in Taiwan. While the latest House-passed version did not directly elaborate on this matter, it called for the Secretary of Defense to consider and enhance defense industrial cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan, expand global military production, increase supply chain security and resilience, and align with Taiwan’s defense needs.
The above suggestions are also present in the summary of the bill released by the Senate Armed Services Committee, which states that the Senate version also calls for the Pentagon to develop a plan to establish a regional emergency defense resource reserve for Taiwan and allocate an additional $12.5 billion for disaster prevention work on Guam. Guam is considered a vital Pacific outpost for deterring the CCP by the U.S. military.
After the Senate Armed Services Committee submits the bill, the next step will be a Senate vote. Once passed, both chambers will need to integrate a unified version before it can be signed into effect by President Biden.
According to the current House version, the NDAA significantly improves the treatment of military personnel by granting a 4.5% pay raise to all military members and a 19.5% raise for new recruits, expanding housing and food allowances, improving military healthcare and childcare support, among other issues. The bill also authorizes a $250 billion increase in defense spending to procure warships, aircraft, vehicles, and allocates a budget to continue supporting Ukraine, Israel, and border enforcement actions.
In terms of enhancing readiness, the bill also strengthens America’s military industrial base and sets a threshold for the acquisition of U.S.-made batteries, accelerates nuclear arsenal modernization, enhances missile defense, and expedites the delivery of space capabilities.
However, the House version of the NDAA includes clauses introduced by the Republican Party to eliminate woke ideology, requiring the Pentagon to prioritize capability as a key criterion for promotion, end equal opportunity actions in military academies, abolish the office or committees implementing the Department of Defense school’s DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policy, and cease funding for abortion and gender reassignment surgeries.
The bill also prohibits the Department of Defense from entering into contracts with advertising companies like NewsGuard, which blacklist conservative news sources.
These provisions did not appear in the Senate version, where Democrats hold the majority, and intensive negotiations between the two parties are expected when reconciling the versions from both chambers.