Keep the Defense Spending Bill About Defense

Another year, another last-minute spending spree.

With two huge spending bills clearing the House of Representatives in the last two weeks and one of them being signed into law, one might think Congress would be out of new spending ideas or close to it.
But even after the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the $2 trillion Build Back Better legislation before Congress now, plans are being made to have the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) be about much more than defense.
It’s an easy target and has been for years.
It’s “must-pass” legislation. Even though it generally is hashed out months beforehand, it’s usually the last piece of legislation signed into law each year. That enables members of Congress to add provisions at the end of the year that otherwise might well not survive careful scrutiny.
All members have to do is convince an ally on the armed services committees in the House or Senate to include a provision in the legislation, and they can bypass the committee process and quite likely see their provision become law even if it’s not that popular.
Each year, both the Senate and House Armed Services Committee pass a defense authorization bill, which does not appropriate money but expresses the will of Congress both on spending and on policy and organizational matters.
The legislation authorizes spending for the Department of Defense, nuclear weapons programs of the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense elements of the Intelligence Community, and defense-related activities at other federal agencies.
The NDAA bills are passed separately in the House and Senate by the middle of the summer, then sent to conference committees to hash out differences. But no further action is taken until the end of the year, when leaders can load in last-minute priorities and special projects.
This year, the House passed its version of the bill on September 23, but the Senate has yet to act. That means it can still get changed after the differences between the House and eventual Senate version are resolved, and la...