The U.S. Congress voted in favor of a protection coverage invoice on Thursday that features a document $886 billion in annual army spending and authorizes insurance policies reminiscent of support for Ukraine and push again towards China within the Indo-Pacific.
The House of Representatives backed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by 310 to 118, with sturdy help from Republicans and Democrats. It was greater than the two-thirds majority required to move the measure and ship it to the White House for President Joe Biden to signal into legislation.
Separate from the appropriations payments that set authorities spending ranges, the NDAA authorizes every thing from pay raises for troops – this yr’s will probably be 5.2% – to purchases of ships, ammunition and plane.
Because it is without doubt one of the few main items of laws that turns into legislation yearly, members of Congress use it as a automobile for a variety of initiatives. It can be intently watched by main protection corporations, reminiscent of Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp and different companies that obtain Department of Defense contracts.
The vote for this yr’s invoice, which is sort of 3,100 pages lengthy and authorizes a document $886 billion, up 3% from final yr, meant that Congress has handed an NDAA for 63 straight years.
The closing model of the NDAA ignored provisions addressing divisive social points, reminiscent of entry to abortion and remedy of transgender service members, that had been included within the model handed by the Republican-majority House over the objections of Democrats, threatening to derail the laws.
The Democratic-controlled Senate backed the NDAA, additionally with a robust bipartisan majority – 87 to 13 – on Wednesday.
The fiscal 2024 NDAA additionally features a four-month extension of a disputed home surveillance authority, giving lawmakers extra time to both reform or hold this system, often called Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
That provision confronted objections in each the Senate and House, however not sufficient to derail the invoice. The Senate defeated an try and take away the FISA extension from the NDAA on Wednesday earlier than voting to move the protection measure.
The House and Senate had every handed their very own variations of the NDAA earlier this yr. The measure permitted this week was a compromise between the 2 events and two chambers.
The invoice extends one measure to assist Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, by way of the top of 2026, authorizing $300 million for this system within the fiscal yr ending Sept. 30, 2024, and the following one.
However, that determine is tiny in comparison with the $61 billion in help for Ukraine Biden has requested Congress to approve to assist Kyiv because it battles a Russian invasion that started in February 2022.
That emergency spending request is slowed down in Congress, as Republicans have refused to approve help for Ukraine with out Democrats agreeing to a big toughening of immigration legislation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with lawmakers on the Capitol on Tuesday to make his case for the funding requested by Biden, however emerged from the conferences with out Republican commitments.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
