Action on the Senate version of the annual defense policy bill is reaching do-or-die time.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune wants to get it done. But he acknowledged in an interview Thursday that it may not include a long-negotiated package of amendments due to objections from senators.
Both sides have run hotlines on an underlying amendment proposal that includes at least 18 standalone measures, plus a second manager’s package that has bipartisan buy-in. Thune said that as of Thursday, there were no GOP objections remaining.
But on the Democratic side, Sen. Ruben Gallego (Ariz) wants a vote on his plan to bar military funeral honors the Trump administration granted to Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt, a Jan. 6 rioter and Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as she tried to break into the Speaker’s Lobby off the House floor.
“As a combat veteran who fought to defend the Constitution, Senator Gallego believes Ashli Babbitt tried to overturn a free and fair election,” Gallego spokesperson Renata Miller said in a statement. “Why would Senate Republicans be afraid to vote on this issue?”
If agreement isn’t ultimately reached on an amendments package, the Senate would likely move to advance the substitute amendment to its version of the NDAA. That language includes an initial manager’s package of amendments that has been agreed to by lawmakers from both parties.
To the floor? Thune conceded that if lawmakers can’t find consent on a package, the chamber would need to move on to clear the way for bicameral discussions.
“We need to get into conference with the House on it so that we can get it transacted sometime between now and hopefully the end of the year,” Thune said.
Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed hope this week that an amendments package could still come together.
“We have to sort out a finite number of amendments and a rule that allows us to get it done efficiently,” Reed told reporters Wednesday. “We’ve done that before. We can do it again.”
The House and Senate have been having pre-conference conversations at the staff level on the NDAA since last week, a Senate aide said. Those discussions involve comparing each chamber’s version of the must-pass bill and identifying potential areas of disagreement that staff directors — and potentially lawmakers — would have to weigh in on once negotiations begin.
