The Republican-drafted House version of the fiscal 2025 defense appropriations bill would ban the Pentagon from spending any funds on what critics say are woke Biden administration military policies, including climate initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The $833 billion bill produced mainly by Republicans on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee was made public this week. The measure prompted a rapid presidential veto threat from the White House over several of the more ideological provisions.
Other restrictions contained in the GOP bill would prohibit Pentagon funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the U.S.-based group EcoHealth Alliance that has conducted research at the institute. The Chinese laboratory has been linked by the FBI and Energy Department intelligence units as a possible source of the COVID-19 virus.
The bill would provide tens of billions of dollars for new aircraft, missiles, warships and armored vehicles.
Final passage of the legislation requires political reconciliation with a version from the Democratic-dominated Senate that is not expected to contain the measures opposed by the Biden administration.
The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement issued Monday that it “strongly opposes” the House version of the defense spending bill and said Mr. Biden was prepared to veto it.
The bill includes “numerous, partisan policy provisions with devastating consequences for the readiness and well-being of America’s military and their families, including harming access to reproductive healthcare, threatening the health and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex Americans, endangering marriage equality, restricting telework for Defense Department employees,” the statement said.
But House supporters of the bill defended their handiwork.
GOP appropriators “continue to be concerned that Department of Defense programs operating under the auspices of diversity, equity and inclusion, and accessibility serve to divide the military along racial, ethnic, or gender lines rather than unite service members to provide for the common defense.”
Drag queens and diversity
A section of the House bill states that none of the funds appropriated under the legislation can be used to hold a “drag queen story hour for children or the use of drag queens as military recruiters.”
That section was drafted after the disclosure last year that the Navy used an active-duty sailor and professional drag queen, Yeoman Second Class Joshua Kelley, as an online recruiter.
Another bill provision bans the military from using any of appropriated funds for surgical procedures or hormone therapies used in “gender-affirming care.”
On diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) matters, the bill would ban all funding for offices that administer the Pentagon’s DEI strategic plan or a presidential executive order on the topic.
The bill states that the funding ban seeks to halt “divisive concepts related to race or sex, such as the concepts that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, or that an individual’s moral character or worth is determined by their race or sex.”
Teaching the academic discipline of critical race theory also would be banned under the legislation.
Some Republicans in Congress have alleged that U.S. military academies have been teaching the theory, which critics say promotes racism against White people.
On climate change, the bill would block all Pentagon funds from being spent on White House executive orders on climate issues, including one that calls for “environmental justice.”
The funding bill also seeks to block security clearances for the 51 former U.S. intelligence officials who signed an October 2020 open letter contending that a laptop computer later proven to be the property of President Biden’s son Hunter was in fact a Russian disinformation plot. Former Deputy CIA Director Michael J. Morrell helped organize the open letter in the closing days of the 2020 presidential election.
Mask mandates and COVID vaccination requirements for military dependents also are banned in the legislation, while military schools also would be prohibited from using any defense funds for gender transition surgery for minor dependents of military personnel.
Also, the bill states that no military and Pentagon funds can be used to discriminate against a person who speaks or acts on their religious beliefs in stating that marriage should be recognized as a union of a man and a woman.
The section suggests that some members of Congress believe the military has discriminated against those who oppose same-sex marriage.
Another provision highlights congressional critics who assert the Pentagon has partnered with groups engaged in censorship of conservative groups. Specifically, the bill would ban the military from spending any funds on NewsGuard, a media watchdog group that critics say has unfairly targeted conservative news outlets.
NewsGuard has denied the allegations and asserts that it is politically neutral.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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