With the House of Representatives passing their version of the NDAA on Friday, they and the Senate are gearing up to try to reconcile their respective versions to get something to the president to sign.



That’s going to be an uphill battle this year, as the two versions of the NDAA are wildly different. The House version includes a lot of amendments aimed to limit the president’s war-making powers, and the Senate leadership broadly refused to allow these sorts of amendments to be debated and voted upon.



And if the Senate’s Republican leaders didn’t want to let the floor vote on those amendments, they’re certainly not going to let the House version through. Many are considering the House amendments “non-starters.”



It’s not clear how the House Democrats are going to respond. Clearly, a lot of the House was very eager to get a chance to debate and vote on these measures, and probably aren’t going to be happy if the leadership just lets the Senate strip everything out in the name of getting something President Trump will want to sign.



Indeed, the House passage of these amendments was the only way a lot of these issues were ever going to get any hearing in the Senate. On top of that, sending it to President Trump over a veto threat would be part of the point of Congress reestablishing its own foreign policy autonomy using the power of the purse.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz