It authorizes expanded #military partnerships in the #IndoPacific & in #Europe — ongoing efforts aimed at countering #China & #Russia, respectively — & structural updates at bases & barracks. The legislation includes a #PayRaise for #ServiceMembers, the procurement of new weapons & missile-defense systems, & numerous other #NationalSecurity imperatives.
Notably, it also extends the #Ukraine#Security Assistance Initiative, the vehicle through which the #Biden admin has helped support Ukraine’s ongoing war w/ Russia, through fiscal 2027. However, the bulk of any future Ukraine #aid — part of Biden’s emergency national security funding request — remains mired in #partisan battles & appears unlikely to pass #Congress this year, if at all.
NEW: The odds of Speaker Johnson ramming a #Section702 reauthorization through tomorrow has diminished, sources say, but more than 80+ civil rights groups are warning lawmakers against it. So is FreedomWorks, who says they'll tag any conservative who supports it. // #NDAA#FISA
NEW: Neither Schumer nor Speaker Johnson are answering questions this morning regarding widespread rumors they plan to amend a "must pass" defense bill (#NDAA) in the final hour to extend a controversial surveillance program, #Section702.
I contacted a dozen Hill offices about this at 8am & after seeing them one by one herd me toward an inbox no one is checking decided stonewalling shouldn't work to keep information like this out of the news until there's nothing Americans can say or do about it.
URGENT: WashPo is reporting that there is still an effort to quietly include the dangerous #STOPCSAM Act (this is basically just the #EarnItAct Act under a different name) in the must-pass #NDAA.
NEWS: An amendment requiring the US Military to obtain a search warrant before buying Americans’ location information from private data brokers will be included in the House version of the NDAA. #privacy#ndaa
It's important to realize when Congress attempts something like this, it faces significant pushback from some very powerful people. This amendment only covers half of the intelligence community (components run by the Pentagon exclusively).
Taking on the entire IC at once -- the FBI, CIA, and the rest -- is way more daunting. These types of reforms happen piecemeal purely as a matter of survival.
The unfortunate reality is that if Democrats still controlled the House, this wouldn't be happening. The national security hawks who've controlled the party since 9/11 would never let this slide. It wasn't until Pelosi and Schiff were stripped of their power that something like this became possible. This is evident by the events of the Section 215 debate a couple years ago.
After SCOTUS’ 2022-06 anti-abortion decision ("Dobbs") the Biden administration issued rules to assist service members/dependents who had to cross state lines for abortions.
However, House members voted 221-213 Thu. night to pass an amendment eliminating abortion provisions f. the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; annual defense spending bill).
...
Can’t say whether they’ll get voted on today, but it looks like two of the anti-trans amendments in the defense authorization bill have survived the Rules committee and will get a vote on the House floor. #NDAA
@standev the IC stuff has traditionally been tackled (unsuccessfully) separately, which i’m not against in every case. The big privacy law we saw floated last year contained huge carveout for police, and I didn’t like it because of that. But it may be easier to just divide and conquer rather than win fights against industry and government simultaneously. But I’d prefer the IC reforms come first because I think they’d be much harder to achieve after.
@dell my point is that if we have strong privacy regulation it may make real-time commercial surveillance less of a business model (and thus unavailable to government customers). I realize I am likely an outlier in the US, if not on Mastodon, in my desire for an end to selling user information as a revenue stream for service providers.
I've checked this and the info from Fix the Court and Jane Mayer is true. The corrupt language protecting spouses of Supreme Court justices from income disclosure is in Section 5933 of the National Defense Authorization Act currently being considered in Congress, on pages 2543 and 2544.
This language would, among other things, protect Ginni Thomas, spouse of Justice Clarence Thomas.
@sarahc
Wow this is an awesome discovery. Sound the alarm to every Dem in Congress! This provision must be removed. GQP are actually trying to subvert our laws for the traitor Ginny. Roberts's wife grifted and was bribed too. F*ck it let's get all these monsters.