The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) advanced its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 on July 8, advancing the bill by a vote of 22-3. It next goes to the Senate floor for consideration.

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Chairman of SASC, said, “I am glad that this year’s NDAA makes important progress in a number of areas, including a well-deserved pay raise for military servicemembers, powerful new security initiatives in the Indo-Pacific, and significant support for technologies like counter-drone defenses and AI. However, I regret that I needed to vote against passage of this bill because it includes a funding increase that cannot be appropriated without breaking lawful spending caps and causing unintended harm to our military. I appreciate the need for greater defense spending to ensure our national security, but I cannot support this approach.”

Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), the ranking member of the committee said, “This bill shows there is bipartisan support for doing more to maintain deterrence and protect American interests. I am encouraged that many of my colleagues have joined me in the conversation about the need to invest more in our national defense. I look forward to discussing the peace through strength vision I have laid out in the months to come. This year’s NDAA results are a testament to the tradition of bipartisanship, vigorous debate, and good working order on which this committee prides itself.”

The next step in the process is for the Senate to consider and pass the bill.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the NDAA on June 14. The bill passed by a vote of 217-199, despite passing out of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) by a resounding bipartisan vote of 57-1 weeks earlier.

“There is no investment more important than the one we make in the men and women who serve in our All-Volunteer Force,” HASC Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said in a statement upon final passage. “We cannot kick the can down the road when it comes to providing for our servicemembers. Today, the House voted to increase pay for junior enlisted servicemembers by 19.5%, improve unaccompanied housing, expand servicemember access to childcare and healthcare, and support military spouses. Our servicemembers are the bedrock of our national security, strengthening our military starts by ensuring our servicemembers are taken care of.”

Rogers noted complex and challenging threats around the world and mentioned the FY25 NDAA “invests in our undersea capabilities, boosts innovation, and supports the capabilities our warfighters need to succeed on any future battlefield.”

However, HASC Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) outlined concerns with the bill as amended prior to the final vote. “The adoption of poison pill amendments attacking reproductive health care, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people of color undermines the purpose of the defense bill by demeaning service members and degrading our national defense,” Smith said. “That is why we oppose the final passage of the NDAA, as amended, on the House floor.”

Passage in the House is a major step in the process, but not the last step. The U.S. Senate will consider and pass its own version of the bill, and the two bills will need to be reconciled before being sent to the White House.