The Defense Authorization Act for 2023: The Road to the White House, and Implications for the Epidemic-Induced Health Care Paradigm

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023 was approved by the House of Representatives. The Senate will have to approve the measure before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill outlines the policy agenda of the Department of Defense and authorizes spending in line with the priorities of the Pentagon, though the funding isn’t appropriate.

But while White House officials have deferred to — and explicitly sided with — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s opposition to rescinding the mandate, the inclusion of the provision in the final compromise agreement underscores a reality that played out behind the scenes in recent days. Democrats believe it’s a must to include the GOP priority in order to pass the policy bill. And White House officials have quietly acknowledged that means their opposition to the vaccine language will not get in the way of the bill’s passage.

After lengthy negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers, the final version of the defense policy bill is ready to be voted on. It is expected to be supported by Republicans and Democrats in both chambers.

Schumer noted the days are getting shorter and that there is still a lot to do, such as confirming more of Biden’s judicial nominees and funding the government.

The largely party-line votes to block the government from requiring health care workers to take the coronavirus vaccine and to end the public health emergency declared at the start of the pandemic were the start of a flurry of legislative activity by the G.O.P. this week that has virtually no chance of yielding any new laws, since the measures cannot make it through the Democratic-controlled Senate or to Mr. Biden’s desk, where he would be all but certain to veto them.

“Americans have not recovered from Covid-19,” said Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, a close ally of Speaker Kevin McCarthy who was banned from Twitter over violations of the company’s coronavirus misinformation policy, but has now been assigned to a select subcommittee to investigate the origins of and response to the virus. Not just in a physical way, but in a financial and emotional way as well.