Monday begins the last week before Congress leaves for its annual holiday break through the Christmas season and into the new year. The big issue on the table is defense spending, the annual National Defense Authorization Act known as the NDAA. In the Senate, Democrats have stripped out most Republican riders aimed at reversing left-wing priorities in our nation's military. One looming issue is the Pentagon abortion policy that forces taxpayers to fund abortion-related expenses for military personnel and their dependents.
That is the same abortion plan Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) fought for during most of this year, citing the fact it violates federal law, before the Senate Rules Committee passed a resolution that would have denied Tuberville the ability to continue his “holds” of military promotions.
In a counter-punch to Senate Democrats, House Republicans inserted language into the House version of the NDAA that would prevent the military from providing paid leave and travel expenses for its personnel in search of abortion services, but the Democrat-led Senate has predictably balked since they know supporting abortion matters to their base.
There are now fears among conservative Republicans that Johnson will cave.
“This is going to be a pivotal week for the Republican House majority and our new Speaker,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) said on American Family Radio Monday. “I believe he’s a genuine conservative. I believe he loves the country and wants to do the right things. However, all that said, this is performance-based, and it's not personal. We've got to judge members of Congress by their actions and what they do, and unfortunately, he's got the wrong people in his ear as well, and the wrong influence in Washington trying to lead him in the wrong direction.”
Determined members of the House Freedom Caucus have vowed to block NDAA over its extension of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives the government authority to intercept phone calls and other communications from foreigners abroad.
The House Judiciary Committee last week passed H.R. 6570 with bipartisan support in a 35-2 vote. That bill reauthorizes Section 702 of FISA for three years but only with significant reforms that require intelligence agencies to secure warrants before any query of a U.S. person and to ensure accountability for civil liberties violations.
Critics warn that innocent Americans can be included in some of those conversations and could then have their First Amendment rights violated, and the FBI has been found to abuse FISA repeatedly.
In the AFR interview, Rep. Good said he fears the NDAA will pass without a pro-life fight and FISA will pass too, without any reforms to protect American citizens.
“And to put the two of them together on suspension of the rules, with a tremendous amount of Democrat votes combined with moderate Republicans, and pass two bad pieces of legislation together representing frankly, everything that's wrong with Washington," the congressman predicted.
What have Democrats keep in the NDAA which the GOP tried to remove? According to Good, Republicans are looking at a Senate version that maintains LGBTQ policies, transgender surgeries for service members, the illegal abortion funding, and climate change policy.
GOP must 'get bold' and challenge Democrats
Republicans can only get what they want if they’re willing to allow a government shut down, Rep. Eric Burlison, in a related interview, said on Washington Watch last Friday.
When the government faced a Nov. 17 deadline for a shutdown, Johnson put forth a plan that allowed money for certain federal agencies through the middle of January while others would be funded through early February.
“This two-step continuing resolution is a necessary bill to place House Republicans in the best position to fight for conservative victories,” Johnson wrote on X at the time.
The bill succeeded in breaking the holiday-season tradition of Congress passing massive spending bills – much of which went unread before voting – just before the Christmas break.
Now, with what some say is 95% of pro-family initiatives passed by House Republicans omitted from the Senate version of NDAA, it appears Senate Democrats have taken advantage of that extra time.
Burlison says the House has to play political hardball and “get bold," which means looking at the looming deadlines and be willing to go past them in order to pressure the Senate and the White House.
"If we're not willing to do that, not willing to go beyond the brink," he summarized, "then the other side knows that ultimately they've won."
Good is calling on conservative voters to let Republicans know how they feel.
“We're trying to ring the bell and let everybody know that's scheduled to come to the floor this week, and we've got to defeat it,” Good said.
