1 00:00:01,900 --> 00:00:04,233 AMNA NAWAZ: The U.S. House passed a nearly $900 billion budget for the 2 00:00:04,233 --> 00:00:09,233 armed forces today largely on partisan lines. Most Democrats voted no after 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,333 Republicans added anti-abortion and other provisions to the bill. 4 00:00:13,333 --> 00:00:18,000 House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries laid out the divide today. 5 00:00:20,433 --> 00:00:22,833 REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): A military cannot defend themselves if you train them in woke. 6 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,833 We don't want Disneyland to train our military. We want our men and women 7 00:00:26,833 --> 00:00:30,466 in the military to have every defense possible. And that's what our bill does. 8 00:00:30,466 --> 00:00:34,466 REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): As House Democrats, we are going to cut out the 9 00:00:34,466 --> 00:00:39,333 cancer that the extreme MAGA Republicans have put in the National Defense Authorization Act, 10 00:00:39,333 --> 00:00:44,300 no matter what it takes, and we're going to partner with Senate Republicans and 11 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:49,033 Senate Democrats to get a responsible National Defense Authorization Act. 12 00:00:49,033 --> 00:00:52,633 AMNA NAWAZ: New York Times congressional correspondent Karoun Demirjian is here to 13 00:00:52,633 --> 00:00:56,766 help us understand the plan's implications for the military and in Congress. 14 00:00:56,766 --> 00:00:58,300 Demirjian, good to see you. 15 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:00,466 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, The New York Times: Good to be here. 16 00:01:00,466 --> 00:01:01,500 AMNA NAWAZ: So, before we get into the details of some of these provisions, 17 00:01:01,500 --> 00:01:03,033 just give us the top lines here. 18 00:01:03,033 --> 00:01:05,433 What are the key funding changes in this bill? 19 00:01:05,433 --> 00:01:10,066 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: We're looking at a bill that authorizes $886 billion to 20 00:01:10,066 --> 00:01:12,933 be spent on various defense and national security priorities. 21 00:01:12,933 --> 00:01:17,933 It covers everything from programs to help the United States better counter 22 00:01:19,566 --> 00:01:23,633 China and Russia, sends $300 million in security assistance to Ukraine, 23 00:01:25,066 --> 00:01:29,300 and includes a 5.2 percent pay increase for active-duty troops. 24 00:01:29,300 --> 00:01:31,833 AMNA NAWAZ: So, as we mentioned, it passed mostly along party lines 25 00:01:31,833 --> 00:01:36,500 219-210. Why did so many Democrats vote against it? What are they opposing? 26 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:41,533 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Well, in the last few days, the Republicans in the House have been adding a series 27 00:01:41,533 --> 00:01:45,933 of measures, amending them into the bill, that do a whole bunch of things Democrats don't like. 28 00:01:45,933 --> 00:01:50,900 There was a measure that they voted on yesterday that rolled back a Pentagon policy that offers 29 00:01:52,900 --> 00:01:55,566 time off and travel reimbursement to people who have to go -- service members who have 30 00:01:55,566 --> 00:01:59,166 to go out of state to obtain an abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade. There was 31 00:01:59,166 --> 00:02:02,933 another provision they attached that would end the military's ability to offer health 32 00:02:02,933 --> 00:02:06,833 care coverage for gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies. 33 00:02:06,833 --> 00:02:11,133 And there was a provision that slashed all the Offices of Diversity training 34 00:02:11,133 --> 00:02:15,166 and the officials that worked in those offices and another one that today that 35 00:02:15,166 --> 00:02:19,833 banned the DOD from actually implementing Biden's climate change executive orders. 36 00:02:19,833 --> 00:02:23,333 So all of these things together are anathema for the Democratic Party. 37 00:02:23,333 --> 00:02:25,966 And so all but four said, we're not on this 38 00:02:25,966 --> 00:02:28,600 anymore. This was supposed to be a bipartisan bill. And it's not. 39 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,433 AMNA NAWAZ: There were two notable Republican amendment efforts that 40 00:02:31,433 --> 00:02:35,333 did fail. There was an attempt to limit Ukraine aid. That was 41 00:02:35,333 --> 00:02:39,766 backed by Republican Matt Gaetz and also Marjorie Taylor Greene, among others. 42 00:02:39,766 --> 00:02:44,700 There was another provision to restore the old Confederate names of military bases. 43 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:47,400 Why did some of those provisions fail to make it into this spell? 44 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,133 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Well, look, the Confederate name issue came up a couple of years ago, 45 00:02:50,133 --> 00:02:53,466 and it was -- as much as President Trump at the time was pushing for it, 46 00:02:53,466 --> 00:02:55,933 it wasn't really completely popular in the Republican Party. 47 00:02:55,933 --> 00:02:59,733 So the fact that you had people defect on that one in the GOP wasn't all that 48 00:02:59,733 --> 00:03:03,766 much of a surprise. The Ukraine one is really interesting, because we always knew that the 49 00:03:03,766 --> 00:03:08,133 Ukraine -- the initiative to try to cut the Ukraine funding was going to fail. There's 50 00:03:08,133 --> 00:03:11,933 too many mainstream Republicans and leaders in that party that had been outspoken about, 51 00:03:11,933 --> 00:03:15,933 we need to actually maintain the support for Ukraine, because this is about the 52 00:03:15,933 --> 00:03:18,933 West versus Russia, and we don't want to have to fight a war with Russia and NATO. 53 00:03:18,933 --> 00:03:23,933 But while Democrats and Republicans stayed together to vote them down, the interesting 54 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:29,333 thing is how many more Republicans voted to actually cut that funding. About a year ago, 55 00:03:31,333 --> 00:03:34,733 we saw 57 Republicans vote against a bill that was just to send about $40 billion 56 00:03:34,733 --> 00:03:38,133 of humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine to help with the war effort. 57 00:03:38,133 --> 00:03:42,766 Now we saw 70 Republicans say no more money for Ukraine, and I think it was 58 00:03:42,766 --> 00:03:47,766 about 89 Republicans said, let's cut that $300 million program that I just mentioned. And so 59 00:03:49,433 --> 00:03:51,133 that means those numbers are ticking up. So even though they didn't pass, 60 00:03:51,133 --> 00:03:53,400 it's interesting to see where the pendulum is swinging in the parties. 61 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,466 AMNA NAWAZ: Some real divides there in the party to track. 62 00:03:55,466 --> 00:03:58,800 But let's talk about the Senate version now, which will likely look very different... 63 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:00,266 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Very. 64 00:04:00,266 --> 00:04:01,900 AMNA NAWAZ: ... in the Democratic-controlled Senate. 65 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:05,066 So this is a critical must-pass bill. How does this get resolved? 66 00:04:05,066 --> 00:04:07,066 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Well, that's a very good question. 67 00:04:07,066 --> 00:04:10,500 You're going to have a really, really Republican measure from the House 68 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:14,800 coming face to face with a really, really Democratic measure looking at the Senate. 69 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,800 Now, if this were left just up to the chairs and ranking members of the Armed Services Committee, 70 00:04:21,700 --> 00:04:23,866 I would say that it would end up being a very boring bill. The four 71 00:04:23,866 --> 00:04:27,233 of them actually wanted to do a bill that was going to be very bipartisan, 72 00:04:27,233 --> 00:04:29,733 that was not going to get into these culture wars fights. 73 00:04:29,733 --> 00:04:32,866 And if you just left the four of them in the room -- a room together to work it out, 74 00:04:32,866 --> 00:04:35,933 they'd probably say, let's just -- we did what we needed to do,but let's just 75 00:04:35,933 --> 00:04:39,900 do something that we can pass with both houses of Congress and a strong bipartisan majority. 76 00:04:39,900 --> 00:04:44,200 But it's got to go through a conference process where a whole lot more people are going to be 77 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,233 at the table. And they're going to be fighting really hard to include these provisions. And so, 78 00:04:48,233 --> 00:04:52,233 at the end of the day, it's not clear if they can get a resolution for that. 79 00:04:52,233 --> 00:04:56,200 And that would be a situation where you would break Congress' streak of nearly six 80 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,566 decades of passing this annually, which would basically mean that -- the defense 81 00:05:00,566 --> 00:05:04,000 bill is the biggest policy bill Congress does every year. They're supposed to do 82 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,533 these policy bills before passing the budgets for absolutely every part of the government. 83 00:05:07,533 --> 00:05:12,166 Everything else has fallen away but defense, because it's such a huge, huge part of the budget. 84 00:05:14,166 --> 00:05:16,533 But I guess the worst-case scenario, if they can't actually get resolution, 85 00:05:16,533 --> 00:05:19,600 is that defense just goes the way of everything else has so far. 86 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:21,833 AMNA NAWAZ: You know, I have to ask about one of the provisions you mentioned, 87 00:05:21,833 --> 00:05:25,833 to cut the DEI, or Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Office. 88 00:05:25,833 --> 00:05:30,300 During the floor debate last night, one Republican congressman, Eli Crane, 89 00:05:30,300 --> 00:05:35,300 actually used an offensive and outdated term to refer to Black Americans. 90 00:05:36,700 --> 00:05:36,833 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Yes. AMNA NAWAZ: He said "colored people." 91 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:40,233 Doesn't that seemed to undercut the Republican argument that these 92 00:05:40,233 --> 00:05:42,566 kinds of DEI trainings and that office is needed? 93 00:05:42,566 --> 00:05:44,733 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Yes, there were a lot of Democrats that went on 94 00:05:44,733 --> 00:05:47,633 the floor after that to say you need DEI training in Congress if 95 00:05:47,633 --> 00:05:50,400 that's the terminology that you're going to use to describe this stuff. 96 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:55,400 I mean, look, the GOP won its fights in the House. Those -- it's not going to win 97 00:05:57,366 --> 00:05:59,266 the fights through Congress. They are going to have to make compromises. But they have 98 00:05:59,266 --> 00:06:01,966 also been making their argument based on this line of, we don't need DEI training, 99 00:06:01,966 --> 00:06:06,000 it's a waste of money, it just encourages more racism, everyone's equal, let's just say that. 100 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,400 But the onus is on them to kind of walk the walk. And if people like 101 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,300 Eli Crane are using the terms if they do, it really undercuts the argument that they're 102 00:06:13,300 --> 00:06:17,366 making and makes it look like they're actually trying to roll things back. 103 00:06:17,366 --> 00:06:19,666 AMNA NAWAZ: A lot to track there. We know you will be following it all. 104 00:06:19,666 --> 00:06:23,266 That is New York Times congressional correspondent Karoun Demirjian joining us tonight. 105 00:06:23,266 --> 00:06:24,766 Karoun Demirjian, good to see you. 106 00:06:24,766 --> 00:06:25,300 KAROUN DEMIRJIAN: Good to see you too. Thank you.