众议院周三清除了第一个程序上的障碍国防授权法案批准了一项对年度军费开支和预算法案进行无争议修正的规则。但斗争仍在继续，因为共和党人仍远未就如何解决堕胎、五角大楼多元化和乌克兰资金等问题达成一致——所有这些都可能阻碍立法。
面对如何控制自己政党的另一个考验，议长凯文·麦卡锡正在与共和党领导层合作，通过国防法案的其余修正案，同时与提出有争议变革的强硬保守派进行持续的会议和会谈。
“我们现在做了第一部分。你知道我们有1500个修正案。这需要很多时间来完成所有的工作，”麦卡锡说。
修正案包括取消军事多样性项目，取消为堕胎的军人报销差旅费的政策，让拒绝服从五角大楼新冠肺炎疫苗任务的军人复职，限制对乌克兰进一步援助的资金，比如提供集束炸弹，这是被许多其他国家禁止的。
德克萨斯州共和党众议员奇普·罗伊周三表示，众议院共和党仍在“试图找出我们如何将所有这些联系在一起，并让它越过终点线。”
“显然有很多你们都知道的热点问题需要解决和处理，”他说，并列举了堕胎权、气候变化和跨性别群体等项目。
众议院多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯表示，领导层正在与包括宾夕法尼亚州众议员斯科特·佩里在内的右翼议员就拟议修正案进行讨论。
“我们将完成这个过程。如果我们能在这个星期完成它，我们会的。如果需要更多时间，我们会接受的，对吗?”斯卡利斯说。
在每周一次的共和党会议上，麦卡锡警告说，不要修改宪法，否则会使NDAA变得复杂或缓慢。
共和党众议员南希·梅斯(Nancy Mace)表示，共和党领导人和成员一直鼓励会议推动NDAA向前发展。
“作为一个国家，我们除了准备和准备好我们的国防力量之外，没有什么需要做的了，无论是在国内还是国外。我们需要这样做，我们需要在这个星期这样做，我希望我们能够达到这个目标。
一些民主党人表示，如果NDAA包含右翼修正案，他们将投反对票。麦卡锡表示，他希望民主党人仍然支持该法案，而众议院民主党党团主席皮特·阿吉拉尔表示，议员们“将投票给他们的地区”和“他们的良心”。…这些政策的细节至关重要。”
除了NDAA，众议院今年晚些时候还面临着迫在眉睫的政府关门。强硬的共和党人已经要求麦卡锡同意他们的支出限制，如果他想要他们对未来的拨款法案投票的话。
McCarthy working to satisfy GOP hard-liners demanding culture war amendments to defense bill
The House on Wednesday cleared its first procedural hurdle on the National Defense Authorization Act, approving a rule on non-controversial amendments to the annual military spending and budget bill. But the fight continues as Republicans remain far from agreement on how to tackle issues including abortion, diversity at the Pentagon and Ukraine funding -- all of which could tank the legislation.
Facing another test of how he can corral his party, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is working with GOP leadership to navigate through the rest of the amendments for the defense bill while having ongoing meetings and talks with the hard-line conservatives who are proposing controversial changes.
"We did the first part now. You know we have 1,500 amendments. It takes a lot of time to work through all of it," McCarthy said.
The amendments include gutting military diversity programs, reversing a policy to reimburse service members for travel expenses if they get an abortion, reinstating troops who refused to comply with the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate and limiting funds for further assistance to Ukraine, like providing cluster bombs, which are banned by numerous other countries.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said Wednesday that the House GOP is still "trying to figure out how we're going to pull all that together and get it across the finish line."
"There's obviously a lot of hot-button issues you all know that need to be addressed and dealt with," he said, listing items like abortion access, climate change and the transgender community.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said leadership is having ongoing discussions with right-wing lawmakers including Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania about the proposed amendments.
"We're going to work through the process. If we can finish it all this week, we will. If it takes more time we'll take it, right?" Scalise said.
During the weekly GOP conference meeting, McCarthy warned against amendments that could complicate or slow-down the NDAA.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said Republican leaders and members have been encouraging the conference to push the NDAA forward.
"There's nothing more that we need to do as a nation other than to prepare and ready our defense forces, whether it's here or abroad. We need to do this, we need to do it this week, and I hope that we can get there," Mace said.
Some Democrats have said they will vote against the NDAA if it includes the right-wing amendments. McCarthy has said he hopes Democrats still back the bill, while House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar has said members "will vote their districts" and "their conscience. … the details of these policies matter."
Beyond the NDAA, the House also faces a looming government shutdown later this year. Hard-line Republicans have already demanded McCarthy agree to their limits on spending if he wants their votes on future appropriations bills.
