Hawley said he’d make it ‘painful’ if he didn’t get way on defense bill. Senate called bluff

Even before the House and Senate settled on a final version of the bill authorizing defense spending, Sen. Josh Hawley was threatening to kill it.

The Missouri Republican wandered the halls of the Capitol, with advocates for victims of radioactive exposure in tow, threatening to hold up the defense bill if it didn’t contain language expanding a program that gives federal benefits to people exposed to nuclear waste.

“I just say, for those who think the defense bill will just sail through, it doesn’t matter what’s in it, my message is you’re very sorely mistaken,” Hawley said. “I’ll use every procedural means at my disposal to make it painful, and I’ll try to kill it. Because to me this is a moral issue.”

The Senate passed the NDAA on Wednesday, without the radiation exposure provision. Despite his threats to make the vote painful, Hawley’s procedural moves did little to delay the bipartisan passage of the bill, which had the support of more than 87 senators. The House passed the bill Thursday morning, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

Instead, he forced two roll call votes – one to prevent the bill from being considered at the beginning of the process and one attempt to get his language back in the bill. Both failed. As of Thursday, the Senate was still scheduled to get home in time for Christmas.

“I have no illusions… that this will not succeed,” Hawley said as he made a motion to extend debate on the bill Tuesday. “I realize my colleagues are eager, all too eager, to move on.”

The push highlighted Hawley’s limits in Congress where, despite forcing one of his top priorities through the Senate, he was unable to get it into law. It was his second bill regarding nuclear waste in St. Louis that, while approved in the Senate, failed to make it into law before the end of the year despite the fact that his own party controls the House.

For months, Hawley held rallies, met with advocates and drummed up publicity. He said the government had a moral imperative to support the people it harmed while creating nuclear bombs. He railed against colleagues who opposed his legislation, which would have expanded a program that provides a one-time payment to people who developed certain illnesses after being exposed to nuclear radiation.

He made a dramatic effort to get the bill through the Senate in July, when he introduced an amendment on the Senate floor. It built off a bill first introduced by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat who was seeking to expand the radiation exposure program for people who lived downwind of nuclear testing sites in his home state.

With the help of Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, and Lujan, Hawley whipped support for his amendment, eventually winning more than 80 votes to get it into the NDAA, the annual bill Congress passes to approve spending levels for the military.

But there was no House version of the bill. And because it was included as an amendment, there was no estimate of how much it would cost or how it would be paid for.

As leaders from the House and Senate negotiated over what would end up in the final version of the bill, Hawley’s amendment was left out.

“While I support some compensation and recourse for the constituents that have been affected, there was no pay-for and you didn’t have a score on it,” said Rep. Ann Wagner, a St. Louis County Republican. “And it ended up being $147 billion for the first 10 years of the 19 year reauthorization.”

Hawley has dismissed the argument that his provision is too expensive for the $886 billion bill, pointing to an article that reported the bill contained $28 billion that the Department of Defense didn’t originally seek.

Wagner said she thinks the bill will have a better chance of passing on its own, with Hawley leading the push in the Senate and Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat who represents many of the people who have been affected by exposure to the nuclear waste, leading the push in the House.

“I think that Senator Hawlely’s office does have some leverage now because he was not able to move the package, given the price tag and such,” Wagner said.

Schmitt, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and grew up in the area affected by nuclear waste, said he was disappointed Hawley’s provision didn’t make it into the final bill but that he plans to keep trying to find a way to push it through.

“I think it’ll allow us an opportunity to kind of hit a level-rest reset here, figure out some other coalitions that can be built among other legislators, senators and representatives and also see if there’s another way to get this done,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt supported the final version of the bill, which included some of his own amendments, including a hiring freeze on diversity, equity and inclusion staff at the Department of Defense until after the Government Accountability Office finishes an audit on the effectiveness of their efforts.

There was also some money for Kansas and Missouri that made it into the final bill, including $50 for private military housing at Fort Leonard Wood pushed for by Rep. Mark Alford, a Missouri Republican who represents the area around the fort. There is also more than $121 million for the operation of B-2 bombers at Whiteman Air Force Base, also in Alford’s district.

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, highlighted that the bill also includes more than $120 million for projects at Fort Riley and nearly $6 million for Forbes Field, the airstrip in Topeka.

“It’s important that we have a strategic view of what we want our national defense to look like, Schmitt said. “So I think there’s a real focus on China, which I’m happy about. I think there’s a lot of good stuff in there to sort of de-politicize a lot of things like DEI. Overall, I think it’s a good thing for the country.”