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By: Kevin R. Edgar, Teresa Goody Guillén, Bari R. Nadworny and Michelle N. Tanney

On December 8, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives approved final passage of a $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill, the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021by a vote of 335-78-1, a veto-proof majority. Following a filibuster on December 10, on December 11, the U.S. Senate approved the NDAA by a vote of 84-13, also a veto-proof majority. The bill now heads to the President for his signature, who has threatened a veto because the bill does not include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Passage of the NDAA marks the 60th consecutive year that the Congress has adopted this legislation, which the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee noted "fulfills our most important constitutional duty: to provide for the security of this nation and the men and women who lay their lives on the line to defend it."

Generally, the bill sets forth Department of Defense policies and programs, includes pay raises for America's servicemembers, modernizations for equipment and provisions to require more scrutiny before troops are withdrawn from Germany or Afghanistan. Tucked into the legislation is Section 6501, Investigations and Prosecution of Offenses for Violations of the Securities Laws, which amends Section 21(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide the Securities and Exchange Commission ......................

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