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The legislation, approved by Congress earlier this month,
sets defense policy and authorizes spending levels for the 2015
fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, but does not actually
appropriate funding.
The bill approves a Pentagon base budget of $496 billion, in
line with Obama's request, plus nearly $64 billion for conflicts
abroad including the war in Afghanistan. It also authorizes
$17.9 billion for Energy Department nuclear weapons work.
The measure formally endorses the Pentagon's plan to vet, train
and equip a moderate Syrian opposition military force to fight
Islamic State rebels, defend the Syrian people and promote
conditions for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war.
The U.S. military program to train and assist Iraqi and Kurdish
forces fighting Islamic State militants also was authorized.
The bill takes new steps to control personnel costs, which
consume about half the Pentagon budget, essentially approving a
year's worth of proposed long-term reforms but delaying further
action pending a report in February from a congressionally
appointed commission on military compensation.
In announcing that he had signed the bill, Obama called on
Congress to join him in closing the U.S. military prison at
Guantanamo, Cuba, where terrorism suspects are held. Republicans
have resisted Obama's attempts to close the facility.
"The Guantanamo detention facility's continued operation
undermines our national security. We must close it," he said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and David Alexander)
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