Senate Passes NDAA, Setting up Negotiations With House

The Senate passed its version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act on July 27 on an 86-11 vote, clearing the way for lawmakers to integrate it with the House-passed version this fall. Amendments adopted during floor debate last week include ones that would:

• Require U.S.-based entities to disclose investments in foreign companies working in advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum science and technology, hypersonics, satellite-based communications, and networked laser scanning systems with dual-use applications.
• Direct the Treasury to provide Congress with an assessment of gifts and grants to U.S. institutions of higher education that are from companies listed by the Treasury as associated with the Chinese military-industrial complex.
• Direct the Department of Energy to expand its efforts to increase domestic uranium supplies and production of high-assay low-enriched uranium.
• Extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act by almost two decades and expand its coverage so that the government can, for instance, consider claims from a broader geographic area, including claims related to the Trinity test and radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project.

Any provisions from either the House or Senate bill could be dropped or altered during the final negotiations.

Among provisions in the Senate version that the White House objects to is a requirement that the Defense Department work with the National Security Agency to set criteria for what microelectronics the department can acquire. The White House states the requirement would “severely disrupt” the department’s programs for acquiring commercial components.