House Freedom Caucus Roils NDAA Fight

“The National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill setting Pentagon priorities and policies, has been signed into law 60 years straight. But this year, it’s looking shakier than ever before,” Politico reports.

“At issue is whether the House will take up hard-right floor amendments this week that could decimate the broad, bipartisan support the bill won last month in the House Armed Services Committee — and lawmakers are deeply worried that partisan battles could break the six-decade streak.”

Punchbowl News: “It’s the latest sign of the difficulties that McCarthy and senior Republicans will face as they attempt to muscle through FY2024 funding bills and other high-profile legislation with only GOP votes. The NDAA is usually done on a bipartisan basis, but facing heavy criticism from the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives, McCarthy is under pressure to give on a number of high-profile issues touching defense policy.”

“Yet the further House Republicans move to the right on any of these proposals, the more valuable every GOP vote becomes due to their razor-thin, four-vote margin. And that just means more trouble for moderate House Republicans already chafing at conservative domination of these policy debates.”