House passes annual defense bill with extension of controversial surveillance tool

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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved Congress's $886 billion defense policy bill just before leaving Washington for the holidays.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2024 passed 310 to 118, with a majority of Republicans and Democrats voting for it. 

In addition to laying out the next year's Pentagon policy priorities, this year's bill also includes an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's (FISA) Section 702, a tool that allows the intelligence community to spy on foreign nationals outside the U.S. without a warrant, even if the person on the other side of their communications is an American citizen.

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., right, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., conduct a news conference on Tuesday, December 5, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Critics say the tool has been abused by the intelligence community to spy on Americans, while its supporters argue it's a vital tool for preventing terror attacks. 

The Section 702 extension was opposed by both conservatives and progressives who have said it impedes civil rights, including the right to privacy. 

Hardliners within the GOP also criticized the NDAA, the product of a compromise with the Democrat-controlled Senate, for removing culture war provisions on transgender surgeries, abortion and other issues that were present in the House version.  

Rep. Bob Good criticized the bill's passage (Getty Images)

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., incoming chair of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, said after the vote, "If Speaker Johnson does the things that Republicans across the country elected us to do, we will be his greatest advocates, greatest partners, his greatest cheerleaders."

"If we do things like what we did today, the Freedom Caucus will absolutely be a problem," he added.

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Defense hawks and more establishment Republicans who supported the NDAA lauded its inclusion of a 5.2% pay increase for the military, with the GOP in particular honing in on its inclusion of a ban on teaching Critical Race Theory in service academies and Pentagon-run schools.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the NDAA (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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"The FY24 NDAA supports our servicemembers, guts Biden's woke agenda, deters China, and strengthens our military," Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement. 

The bill now heads to President Biden's desk for a signature.