Congress passes $886 billion defense policy bill, Biden to sign into law
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[December 15, 2023]
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -More than two-thirds of the U.S. House of
Representatives voted in favor of a defense policy bill on Thursday that
includes a record $886 billion in annual military spending and
authorizes policies such as aid for Ukraine and push back against China
in the Indo-Pacific.
The House backed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by 310
to 118, with strong support from Republicans and Democrats. It was more
than the two-thirds majority required to pass the measure and send it to
the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Separate from the appropriations bills that set government spending
levels, the NDAA authorizes everything from pay raises for troops - this
year's will be 5.2% - to purchases of ships, ammunition and aircraft.
Because it is one of the few major pieces of legislation that becomes
law every year, members of Congress use it as a vehicle for a wide range
of initiatives. It is also closely watched by major defense companies,
such as Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp and other firms that receive
Department of Defense contracts.
The vote for this year's bill, which is nearly 3,100 pages long and
authorizes a record $886 billion, up 3% from last year, meant that
Congress has passed an NDAA for 63 straight years.
The final version of the NDAA left out provisions addressing divisive
social issues, such as access to abortion and treatment of transgender
service members, that had been included in the version passed by the
Republican-majority House over the objections of Democrats, threatening
to derail the legislation.
The Democratic-controlled Senate backed the NDAA, also with a strong
bipartisan majority - 87 to 13 - on Wednesday.
The fiscal 2024 NDAA also includes a four-month extension of a disputed
domestic surveillance authority, giving lawmakers more time to either
reform or keep the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
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The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington, U.S., December 1,
2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
That provision faced objections in both the Senate and House, but
not enough to derail the bill. The Senate defeated an attempt to
remove the FISA extension from the NDAA on Wednesday before voting
to pass the defense measure.
The House and Senate had each passed their own versions of the NDAA
earlier this year. The measure approved this week was a compromise
between the two parties and two chambers.
The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security
Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300
million for the program in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024,
and the next one.
However, that figure is a tiny compared to the $61 billion in
assistance for Ukraine Biden has asked Congress to approve to help
Kyiv as it battles a Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
That emergency spending request is bogged down in Congress, as
Republicans have refused to approve assistance for Ukraine without
Democrats agreeing to a significant toughening of immigration law.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with lawmakers at the
Capitol on Tuesday to make his case for the funding requested by
Biden, but emerged from the meetings without Republican commitments.
(Reporting by Patricia ZengerleEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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