Republicans are gearing up for a bitter showdown over a proposal to include women as House and Senate committees hammer out the annual defense policy bill.
The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed committee markup this week, includes key wins for hawks on the Hill including a $45 billion top-line boost to President Biden’s Pentagon budget and a green light for the Navy to continue development of its nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile program recently scuttled by the administration.
But the bill also thrusts the military back into the culture war spotlight by reintroducing language requiring women to register for the selective service which Republicans in both chambers have signaled is a non-starter.