Among the very few “must-pass” bills that Congress has to deal with each year is the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA authorizes funding levels and provides legislative authority for the U.S. military and other critical national defense priorities, and as such is one of the few measures that both Democrats and Republicans are able to set aside their differences in reaching agreement.
Indeed, because every member of Congress knows that the NDAA is a must-pass bill, it often serves as the vehicle for legislators to try to add unrelated, or marginally related, legislative provisions that they hope will make it into the final version of the bill and get signed into law. Prominent past examples that made it into law include expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), limiting the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements, expanding the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), strengthening anti-human trafficking laws, adding new whistleblower protections for employees of federal contractors, and prohibiting most federal contractors from considering applicant criminal history information until a conditional offer of employment is made.
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