 [ZH] The $886.3 billion defense budget is headed for President Joe Biden’s desk and Congress is headed home for the holidays, its business concluded—albeit not finished—for the year.
The House on Dec. 14 approved the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (FY24 NDAA) in a 310–118 vote, ensuring its passage a day after the Senate adopted the massive appropriations measure in an 87–13 tally.
The NDAA earmarks $841.5 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD)—nearly $32 billion, or 3 percent, more than the FY23 NDAA—$32.26 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, and $12.1 billion in defense-related allocations for other federal agencies.
Both chambers adopted their respective defense budgets in July. The NDAA is one of 12 appropriations bills that constitute the federal government’s yearly budget. Five have now been adopted for FY24, which began Oct. 1. Parts of the federal government are operating under continuing resolutions.
A Senate–House conference committee reconciled differences in the chamber budgets for two months. On Dec. 6, it produced a 3,093-page draft NDAA, 718-page conference report, and a bucket of parliamentary worms that, ultimately, provided the only intrigue during the must-pass bill's last unpassed days.
The NDAA includes a 5.2-percent pay raise for service members, $145 billion for research into artificial intelligence and hypersonics, investments in Space Force and many, many things—$886.3 billion worth.
Below are 10 takeaways from the slow-walked NDAA’s sudden Dec. 13–14 rocket-docket dash through the Senate and House, three months after the federal fiscal year began, and six months after both chambers passed seminal budgets. 
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