The defense bill is no longer a no-brainer as Speaker McCarthy gives in to far-right faction

Despite the rowdy episodes of fussing, feuding, and fighting that we see erupt out of the Congress, matters as routine as the annual defense policy bill have tended to slide through without much opposition. Until this year

In the past week, the traditional bipartisan support behind defense broke down into an unusually bitter debate in the House, where the National Defense Authorization Act narrowly passed 219 to 210 on Friday; a similar fight is expected in the Senate.

The deeply partisan bill that Republicans pushed through the House would limit abortion access, transgender care, and diversity training for military personnel. That sets up a showdown in the Senate that jeopardizes the measure, along with defense measures that include a pay raise for troops and programs for dealing with a range of rising threats.

The bill faced a far-right faction in the House that forced Speaker Kevin McCarthy to reluctantly open up the legislation to controversial social policy provisions. Such provisions have little chance of surviving in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is unlikely to reach a grand compromise — or any compromise — this fall.