Congress sends hefty defence Bill for Trump to sign

WasHington: The US Congress overwhelmingly authorised US$700bil (RM2.9 trillion) in national defence spending for next year, a substantial increase over Donald Trump’s request, and sent the measure to the president for his signature.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 is a negotiated compromise between the two chambers of Congress. The Senate passed it Thursday on a unanimous voice vote, two days after it cleared the House on a vote of 356 to 70.

The Bill is some US$26bil (RM108bil) above Trump’s initial military budget requests, and about 15% higher than the authorisation in 2016, the last full year of Barack Obama’s presidency.

It provides for US$626bil (RM2.6 trillion) in base budget requirements, US$66bil (RM275bil) for Overseas Contingency Operations, or warfighting, and an additional US$8bil (RM33bil) for other defence activities.

Increased spending is allocated for new F-35 fighter jets, ships and M1 Abrams tanks, military pay is raised by 2.4% and US$4.9bil (RM20bil) is reserved for Afghanistan security forces, including a programme integrating women into the country’s national defence.

The figure is substantially more than Trump’s baseline missile defence request, at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea over its testing of nuclear devices and ballistic missiles.

Lawmakers including Senator John McCain, a defence hawk who routinely berates administrations for not spending enough to improve defence readiness, praised the Bill’s passage as a sign Congress was eager to rebuild military strength.

McCain said he hoped Trump would sign the measure and “acknowledge that this is the level of defence spending necessary to meet current threats, prepare for the challenges of an increasingly dangerous world, and keep faith with our men and women in uniform”. — AFP