Now that the House of Representatives has approved President Joe Bidens social spending and climate plan, the legislations fate depends on the Senate where Republicans and key Democrats say the plan costs too much. But as senators debate the $1.7 trillion package, they will also advance a far more expensive bill with far less scrutiny: the annual Pentagon budget, which approves more than four times as much spending as Bidens Build Back Better Act.

Lawmakers have this year crafted one of the largest military spending bills in American history. The National Defense Authorization Act would approve $778 billion in spending in 2022, compared to the approximately $170 billion in spending that Bidens social policy would entail next year. Senate leaders hope to pass the defense legislation before Thanksgiving and Build Back Better in December.

Hawkish Democrats worked with Republicans to ensure that the defense bill would be $25 billion greater than Bidens proposal for the military budget, and to quash progressive efforts to trim costs.

Theres a fear of being seen as weak on national security by some Democrats but we need to reframe the debate a lot of the money is going to defense contractors, said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. We should say were for military families and job creation, not CEO salaries of $5 million.

And we shouldnt be memorializing [former President Donald] Trumps massive increases, he added, referring to the huge uptick in defense budgets under the last Republican administration.

By putting Bidens domestic spending plan in the context of huge and rarely questioned defense spending, Congress could have a realistic conversation about how Washington uses taxpayer dollars.

We need to talk in a way that compares apples to apples and oranges to oranges ... you cant use a 10-year number only for the human investment. How is that fair? Khanna said.

Instead, Bidens opponents have consistently used two different standards in talking about the two bills and linked the spending plans only in attacks.

Capitol Hill has been slow to greenlight the defense bill because Democrats have been so preoccupied with passing their reckless tax-and-spending spree that they have overlooked and ignored some of the basic responsibilities of governing, Sen. John Thune (R-N.D.) told reporters earlier this month.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told HuffPost that Bidens social policy bill which invests in renewable energy and universal pre-kindergarten while cutting costs for child care and health care is less important than military funding.

National defense is the first, the highest priority of the federal government. Its the most legit thing the federal government does. So whatever is required to defend the U.S. is the first use of our revenue, Cramer said.

The defense bill authorizes significant spending beyond the day-to-day cost of defending the U.S., however. Close to half of the funding goes to new weapons systems and other military investments for the future, a congressional aide involved in crafting the legislation told HuffPost just as the smaller Biden social spending package funds long-term investments in Americas social safety net.

Critics of Build Back Better seem unconcerned with those details.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the top Republican in the House, has claimed Bidens spending plan would cost Democrats votes. In an eight-hour speech trying to block it, McCarthy called the legislation the single most reckless and irresponsible spending bill in our nations history, without referencing defense spending or the cost of the GOPs huge tax cuts in 2017.