$900B defense bill advances to House-wide vote as conservative mutiny threat looms

A wide-ranging bill setting the federal government's defense and national assurance framework for the fiscal year survived a key hurdle Tuesday night but questions over whether it will get to President Donald Trump's desk still remain The House Rules Committee voted to advance the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA along party lines after hours of debate setting up the bill for a chamber-wide vote on Wednesday afternoon The act will dictate how roughly billion of the federal budget will be spent on America's national defense But with several conservatives already voicing concerns it's unclear if it can survive a procedural hurdle that will likely need almost all House Republicans to vote in lock step despite patronage from the majority of the House GOP CONGRESS UNVEILS B DEFENSE BILL TARGETING CHINA WITH TECH BANS FINANCING CRACKDOWN US TROOP PAY RAISEThe House Rules Committee is the final gatekeeper before most of pieces of act get a chamber-wide vote Lawmakers on the panel are responsible for setting terms of debate on a bill including deciding which amendments if any can be voted on The next step is generally a House-wide procedural vote called a rule vote where lawmakers decide whether to green-light debating the bill Fox News Digital was notified earlier this week that House GOP leaders hope to hold the NDAA vote in the early evening Wednesday But questions about whether the bill could pass a chamber-wide rule vote earlier in the day began popping up soon after the -page bill was unveiled Sunday night Rule votes generally fall along party lines even if the underlying measure has bipartisan sponsorship And with a razor-thin majority Speaker Mike Johnson R-La can only afford to lose two GOP votes and still win GERMANY UNVEILS NEW INCENTIVES TO BOOST MILITARY RECRUITMENT AMID GROWING RUSSIA THREATAt least two House Republicans Eric Burlison R-Mo and Tim Burchett R-Tenn explained Fox News Digital Tuesday afternoon they are undecided on the House-wide rule vote Certain conservatives are concerned with the bill's exclusion of a ban on central bank digital currency CBDC Without it GOP privacy hawks argue that the federal executive could use digital currency for widespread surveillance and control of Americans Conservatives were promised that an anti-central bank digital currency language authored by Tom Emmer the whip would be in the NDAA Our initial reading of it we've had it for hours now is that it is not in there And then there is no anti-abortion language either So as we fund our military there are red lines that we need to put in here Rep Keith Self R-Texas reported on Mornings with Maria Monday Self narrated Fox News Digital he was also undecided on the rule vote but would vote no on the final act Rep Michael Cloud R-Texas posted his frustration with the measure's exclusion on X and recounted reporters he too was undecided on the rule Meanwhile Rep Greg Steube R-Fla reported he was frustrated with the process of crafting the final NDAA All of this was negotiated behind closed doors he communicated Fox News Digital We're getting shoved and we just have to eat it or you know vote against increasing pay to our military arrangement members It's a very unfortunate situation to be in that the speaker keeps putting us in And Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky stated he was likely going to vote no on the rule vote Wednesday It was a good sign however that the House Rules Committee's three House Freedom Caucus members Reps Morgan Griffith R-Va Chip Roy R-Texas and Ralph Norman R-S C all voted to advance it to a chamber-wide vote The vast majority of House Republicans are also supportive of the statute pointing out it includes multiple measures codifying Trump's agenda ramping up the U S 's capabilities against China and other adversaries as well as providing a pay increase for organization members House GOP leaders have the option of putting the bill up under suspension of the rules meaning it bypasses that procedural hurdle in exchange for raising the passage threshold to two-thirds rather than a simple majority The NDAA itself is likely to pass along bipartisan lines but it's unclear how plenty of Democrats will help Rep Adam Smith D-Wash the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee explained he would vote for the NDAA despite concerns with how a number of issues were handled by the Speaker and the White House during final negotiations he declared in a comment