Defense & National Security — Biden visits Saudi Arabia amid Middle East tensions

by Jordan Williams - 07/15/22 5:52 PM ET

President Biden made his controversial trip Saudi Arabia on Friday, during which he met with Saudi Crown Price Mohammad bin Salman and other high-level officials.

We’ll break down today’s developments. Plus, we’ll talk about the House passing its $840 billion National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023.

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Jordan Williams. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Saudi Arabia hosts President Biden

President Biden met with Saudi Crown Price Mohammad bin Salman and other high-level Saudi officials on Friday, marking the third of his four-day trip to the Middle East.

In remarks after his meetings, the president said the officials accomplished “significant business,” such the Saudis opening civilian airspace to all civilian carriers and working toward extending the current ceasefire between Yemen’s government and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group.

Biden said the ceasefire between Yemen’s government and the Iranian-backed rebel group Houthis, which has been in place since April, has resulted in the “most peaceful period in Yemen in seven years.” The president also said the Saudis agreed to facilitate the delivery of food and humanitarian aid to civilians in Yemen.

“This trip is about once again positioning America in this region for the future,” Biden said. “We are not going to leave a vacuum in the Middle East for Russia and China to fill, and we’re getting results.”

Biden talked about Khashoggi: Biden said that he raised the 2018 murder of U.S-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi “at the top of the meeting” with Salman. The U.S. intelligence community concluded that the crown prince approved of Khashoggi’s murder.

“I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now,” the president said in a speech after hours of meetings with the Saudi crown prince and other Saudi officials in Jeddah.
“I said very straightforwardly for an American president to be silent on the issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am,” Biden continued. “I’ll always stand up for our values.”

A historic flight: Biden on Friday became the first U.S. president to fly directly from Tel Aviv to Jeddah.

The fight was preceded by the news that Saudi Arabia would open its airspace to all airlines, including all commercial flights flying to and from Israel. Reports indicate the new policy could pave the way for direct flights from Israel to Saudi Arabia for Muslims to make pilgrimages to Mecca.
Previous presidents have flown directly between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Then-President George W. Bush flew from Israel to the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and then-President Trump flew from Saudi Arabia to Israel.

The fist bump: Biden greeted the crown prince with a fist bump on Friday ahead of the controversial face-to-face meeting between the two men in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Footage displayed on Saudi state television showed Biden emerging from his limo and fist-bumping the crown prince before the two entered Al Salam Royal Palace.

But the gesture drew backlash as elevating bin Salman on the world stage despite Biden’s pledge to make the kingdom a “pariah” over Khashoggi’s murder.

House passes $840 billion defense bill

The House on Thursday passed its annual defense policy bill authorizing nearly
$840 billion in defense spending for fiscal 2023, approving a $37 billion boost to President  Biden’s defense budget.

The lower chamber passed the bill on a bipartisan 329-101 vote. Thirty-nine Democrats and 62 Republicans voted against the measure.

Backtrack: The House Armed Services Committee first advanced the bill in June by a vote of 57-1.

The House bill allocates $808.4 billion in discretionary spending to the Pentagon, $30.5 billion to the Department of Energy, and another $400 million in defense-related activities elsewhere in the federal government.

A record number of amendments: Lawmakers filed a record 1,230 amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) through the House Rules Committee for consideration by the full committee, though the lower chamber considered only 650 on the floor.

Among the amendments, the House turned down two offered by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to slash the total top line of the NDAA.
The House also included amendments that would require officials to prepare a report analyzing white supremacy and neo-Nazi activities within their ranks. Another approved amendment would give Washington, D.C., control over the D.C. National Guard.

What happens now? A separate version of the annual defense policy bill still has to be considered in the Senate, and then both versions will be reconciled in conference committee before the bill makes its way through both chambers for final passage.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Politico on Wednesday that the upper chamber would likely begin debating its version of the bill in September due to other high-profile bills being ironed out.

Read the full story here.

DEFENSE BILL BECOMES BATTLEGROUND FOR CULTURE WARS

From vaccine mandates to abortion, the annual defense spending bill has become a vehicle for both Republicans and Democrats in the House to try to hash out culture war issues.

The House Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-line conservatives, on Wednesday announced an official position urging GOP colleagues to oppose the bill, citing a number of hot-button cultural issues along with concern about military funding going to other countries.

On the Democratic side, lawmakers veered into the abortion debate by introducing an amendment to repeal current restrictions on using Pentagon funds to perform abortions. The House Rules Committee did not allow the amendment to be debated.