Washington (CNN) The Republican-controlled Senate quietly cut the phrase "white nationalist" from a measure in the National Defense Authorization Act, which was intended to explicitly address the threat of white nationalists in the military, altering the language of a House-passed amendment before passing the massive military spending bill Tuesday.

The House amendment, which was passed in July, was drafted to explicitly study the feasibility of screening for white nationalist beliefs in military enlistees.

But the final version of the bill passed by the Senate and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature now only requires the Department of Defense to monitor for "extremist and gang-related activity," rather than specifically referencing white nationalism.

"We know that white nationalist extremists are actively trying to enlist in our military, and we know they are doing so to acquire combat and weapons training," Rep. Pete Aguilar, the congressman who introduced the House amendment, said in a statement to CNN.

"I introduced my amendment because keeping this hateful ideology out of our military is crucial to our national security and to the safety of our service members. We can't address the problem if we won't acknowledge there is one, which is why I was disappointed by the Senate Republicans' decision to strike this language," the California Democrat said.

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