A plan to inject $8.5 billion into military quality-of-life initiatives overcame a key hurdle early Thursday morning as House Republicans narrowly approved a sweeping bill to enact President Donald Trump's legislative agenda.

The quality-of-life funding is part of $150 billion for the Defense Department that Republicans included in what they are officially calling the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a wide-ranging legislative package that touches everything from taxes to health care to border policy.

The Pentagon funding could provide a much-needed boost to barracks maintenance, military health care and other areas that directly affect the well-being of service members. But military and veterans advocates have expressed concerns about other aspects of the bill, particularly cuts to a federal food benefits program and the repeal of a rule that restrains for-profit colleges from targeting veterans.

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The bill must still pass the Senate, where there will almost certainly be further changes to win over some Republicans skeptical about various aspects, including the food assistance cuts. But the House passage -- which came in a party-line 215-214 vote at about 6 a.m. Thursday -- is a key milestone in the process.

"Without this generational investment in national defense, we will no longer be able to deter our adversaries or ensure America's global leadership," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement after the vote. "The One Big Beautiful Bill provides long overdue resources to modernize our military, revitalize the defense industrial base and improve the quality of life for our service members."

The two biggest pots of Pentagon funding in the bill are $34 billion for shipbuilding and $25 billion for the Golden Dome, which is Trump's proposal^[2] for a space-based missile defense shield^[3] over the U.S.

Of the $8.5 billion that would go toward military quality-of-life issues, $1.3 billion is devoted to barracks maintenance and restoration across the military services.

The military has faced years of problems with squalid living conditions for its most junior troops, and military officials have often blamed persistent underfunding of housing for the issue.

In addition to the barracks funding, the bill would also provide temporary authorization for more widespread barracks privatization, an idea that has gained steam in recent years^[4] as the services have struggled with maintenance backlogs.

A recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimated^[5] that the two barracks privatization-related provisions in the bill could increase government spending by about $2 billion over 10 years.

Apart from barracks, the quality-of-life funding in the bill includes $2 billion for defense health programs, which have faced shortages in recent years^[6]. There is also $2.9 billion for Basic Allowance for Housing^[7] payments, $50 million for special pay and bonuses, $100 million for child-care fee assistance for service members, and $10 million for military spouse^[8] professional licensure fee assistance.

Elsewhere in the bill, a food assistance program that many military families rely on is facing steep cuts^[9].

Under the bill, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is often referred to as food stamps, would receive less federal funding, and states would be required to make up the difference.

Anti-hunger and military families advocates, as well as governors^[10] and other state officials^[11] across the country^[12], have been warning that states will not be able to handle the extra budget burden and will need to cut benefits, restrict eligibility or, in the worst-case scenario, stop offering SNAP in the state altogether. Since military families are among SNAP beneficiaries, they would undoubtedly be swept up in the cuts, advocates say.

The White House is pushing back on the idea that military families would be affected by the SNAP cuts.

"President Trump is strengthening SNAP for Americans who need it -- especially military families -- to ensure these programs are sustainable for future generations," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement Tuesday.

Senate Republicans have reacted tepidly to the state cost-sharing plan for SNAP. In a statement last week, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said the Senate "will carefully consider the House's approach," while stopping short of endorsing it.

Republicans are using a process known as reconciliation that will allow them to pass the bill in the Senate with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation. That means they won't need any Democratic votes, but they will still have to overcome any intra-party disputes.

Veterans organizations are also hoping senators will make changes to the education policy portion of the bill. In particular, they are sounding the alarm^[13] about the fact the bill would repeal what's known as the 90/10 rule, which limits how much of a for-profit school's revenue can come from federal student aid.

A loophole in the rule that allowed shady for-profit schools to take advantage of veterans' GI Bill^[14] benefits was closed in 2023. But advocates are warning that repealing the rule altogether could lead to for-profit schools once again scamming veterans out of their education benefits.

Republicans have argued the rule unfairly targets for-profit colleges and that repealing it would expand educational opportunities by treating all types of schools the same.

"President Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill is great for our veterans and military families," Kelly, the White House spokesperson, added in a statement Thursday. "By delivering the largest tax cut for middle and working-class Americans in history, ensuring greater educational choices for veterans and strengthening SNAP, this president is dedicated to delivering on his campaign promises and ensuring our men and women in uniform have the support they need."

A CBO estimate released last week^[15] said that repealing the 90/10 rule could increase federal spending by $1.6 billion, including increasing veterans education benefits costs by about $25 million.

Since Senate Republicans were instrumental in the bipartisan deal that closed the loophole in the 90/10 rule, veterans advocates are leaning on them now to keep the rule alive.

"This cannot and should not be allowed to be included in the final bill, and IAVA and the veterans you see here today will fight tooth and nail to make sure it does not happen," Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said at a news conference last week. "I can tell you that there are members of the majority in the Senate who are watching this closely and aren't liking what they're seeing. They're just not saying so publicly yet."

Related: Republicans Unveil Pentagon Portion of Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' with Extra Money for Barracks^[16]

WASHINGTON -- All but a few of the nearly 400 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from its library^[1] because they dealt with anti-racism and gender issues are back on the shelves after the newest Pentagon-ordered review -- the latest turn in a dizzying effort to rid the military of materials^[2] related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Based on the new review^[3], about 20 books from the academy's library are being pulled aside to be checked, but that number includes some that weren't identified or removed in last month's initial purge of 381 books, defense officials told The Associated Press.

A few dozen books at the Air Force libraries^[4] -- including at the Air Force Academy^[5] -- also have been pulled out for review, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is still ongoing.

The back-and-forth on book removals reflects a persistent problem in the early months of the Trump administration, as initial orders and demands for an array of policy changes have been forced to be reworked^[6], fine-tuned and reissued because they were vague, badly defined or problematic.

The reviews and changes at military libraries and to websites, social media accounts and more are part of the Trump administration's far-reaching efforts to purge so-called DEI content^[7] from federal agencies.

The Pentagon earlier this month issued a detailed directive to all military leaders and commands to pull and review all library books addressing diversity, anti-racism or gender issues by Wednesday. The order contained more specific search words than earlier guidance and verbal orders from Defense Department leaders, and officials said it resulted in dramatically fewer banned books than initially thought.

The Navy^[8] said in a statement Wednesday that it reviewed the library collections at all of its educational institutions to ensure compliance with the directives, noting that materials have been "identified and sequestered." The Army^[9] and Air Force also have reviewed their collections.

All of the services' libraries had to provide their new lists of books to Pentagon leaders. Now additional guidance will be given on how to cull those lists, if needed, and determine what should be permanently removed. The review also will "determine an appropriate ultimate disposition" for those materials, according to a Defense Department memo.

The May 9 memo -- signed by Timothy Dill, who is performing the duties of the deputy defense undersecretary for personnel -- did not say what will happen to the books or whether they will be stored away or destroyed.

The libraries at the military academies^[10] and those at other schools and commands had to remove educational materials "promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology" because they are incompatible with the Defense Department's core mission, the memo said.

A temporary Academic Libraries Committee set up by the department is overseeing the process, and it provided a list of search terms to use to determine which books to pull and review.

Those search terms included: affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender and white privilege.

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, removed 381 books^[11] from its library in early April after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office to get rid of those that promote DEI.

The purge led to the removal of books^[12] on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, and Maya Angelou's famous autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

Others included "Memorializing the Holocaust," which deals with Holocaust memorials; "Half American," about African Americans in World War II; "A Respectable Woman," about the public roles of African American women in 19th century New York; and "Pursuing Trayvon Martin," about the 2012 shooting of a Black 17-year-old in Florida that raised questions about racial profiling.

The Navy on Wednesday could not confirm which books have been returned to the library or if Angelou's book or the others will remain pulled from shelves.

About two weeks after the Naval Academy purge was ordered, the Army and Air Force libraries were told to go through their stacks to find and remove books related to DEI^[13].

Throughout the process, leaders of the military services sought more detailed guidance on which books had to go because the initial order to the Naval Academy was verbal and vague. Dill's memo provided that additional guidance.

Similarly, directives to reenlist troops forced out for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine^[14] and to remove transgender service members^[15] from the military have had to be clarified over time.

Defense leaders have had to provide additional guidance and wording to address questions from the services on how to legally and accurately implement the orders. And in several cases, orders had to be refined and reissued.

In a move that pushes the boundaries of Constitutional prohibition against a state religion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted an evangelical prayer service in the middle of the day at the Pentagon in which a pastor praised President Donald Trump as "sovereignly appointed."

A program for the event called it the "Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer and Worship Service." It was held at the Pentagon's auditorium and was broadcast throughout the building on its internal cable network.

While Hegseth made an opening prayer, the majority of the service was run by the defense secretary's personal pastor from a Tennessee church whose leaders have a documented history of advocating for male-led Christian authority over society.

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Standing behind a podium bearing the logo of the Defense Department, Hegseth declared that "this is precisely where I need to be, exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ," according to an audio recording of the event obtained by Military.com.

A video of the service^[2] was also posted online by the Defense Department.

Hegseth proceeded to add that the prayer service was voluntary but encouraged those in attendance to "let those you work with know about it."

Meanwhile, the pastor, Brooks Potteiger, prayed for the Pentagon to "become a place where Christians come together to do just this, and we see you move in power, not just through the Pentagon, but through our nation's capital and down throughout this great nation."

Some Defense Department employees said they received an emailed invitation to the event on Wednesday morning, with at least one person remarking that it went to a personal email account.

When asked about the service, Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson said that "many different faiths have regular services in the Pentagon Chapel or elsewhere in the Pentagon" and that Hegseth's office "envisions that these prayer and worship services will be a monthly occurrence."

It is not clear whether any of those services that Wilson referred to were advertised via email, broadcast internally, or hosted by the top Pentagon official.

Wilson also stopped short of saying that those forthcoming services would feature other religions, and she noted that any participating civilian clergy are responsible for their own travel expenses.

A defense official said Potteiger paid for his own travel.

Meanwhile, top Hegseth aide Tami Radabaugh posted about the event on social media^[3] and described it as the "first monthly Christian Prayer and Worship Service at the DoD."

Defense officials did not answer questions about whether the event ran afoul of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits the U.S. government from establishing or endorsing one faith above others.

CNN, citing a national security legal expert, reported that the event was a "clear violation" of the Establishment Clause^[4] of the First Amendment.

Meanwhile, Trump has a long track record of pushing to blur America's^[5] long-standing traditions that^[6] separate church and state. Shortly after taking office for his second term, he established a White House Faith Office^[7] and signed an executive order banning "anti-Christian bias"^[8] and to "end the anti-Christian weaponization of government."

Hegseth's pastor, who came from Tennessee for the service at the Pentagon, runs the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship -- a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.

The group's governing documents^[9] reserve church leadership roles for men and prohibit women from being "mustered for combat."

Hegseth has long been an opponent of women^[10] in military combat roles and argued in his last book^[11] that the achievements of female service members were inflated or the result of diversity efforts.

"They don't care how many battles we lose as long as our dead are diverse," he wrote, without specifying who "they" were. "We can see this in how the woke PR machine has spun stories of female service members."

Potteiger's sermon featured several references to the Pentagon and military.

"If our Lord is sovereign, even over the sparrows' fallings, you can be assured that he is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles, including strategy meetings and war room debriefings. Jesus has the final say over all of it," he said.

The church documents also call being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender a "perversion."

"We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed -- for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land," Potteiger said in the sermon. "We pray that you would surround him with faithful counselors who fear your name and love your priesthoods."

Ahead of Hegseth's confirmation to lead the Pentagon, USA Today reported^[12] that a podcast run by Potteiger and Joshua Haymes, another member of the leadership at Pilgrim Hill, often features the concept of the "sphere sovereignty" in which "Christian men are over three equally powerful spheres -- the government, church and family -- to maintain order and submissiveness through different forms of discipline."

When Hegseth introduced Potteiger on Wednesday, he said that the pastor had "long been a mentor of mine, of my wife and I, of our family" and that he had participated in Bible studies with him "long before anything like this seemed possible."

"And now here we are," he added.

Related: Pentagon Will Use Health Screenings, Commanders to Ferret Out Trans Troops for Separations^[13]