$700 billion bill for military gets Senate approval

The 1,215-page measure defies a number of White House objections, but President Donald Trump hasn’t threatened to veto it. The bill helps him honor a pledge to boost military spending by tens of billions of dollars.

WASHINGTON — The Senate has overwhelmingly approved a sweeping policy bill that would pump $ 700 billion into the military, putting the U.S. armed forces on track for a budget greater than at any time during the decade-plus wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senators passed the legislation by a 89-8 vote Monday. The measure authorizes $ 700 billion in military spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, expands U.S. missile defenses in response to North Korea’s growing hostility and refuses to allow excess military bases to be closed. Arkansas’ Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton, both Republicans, voted for the bill.

The 1,215- page measure defies a number of White House objections, but President Donald Trump hasn’t threatened to veto it. The bill helps him honor a pledge to boost military spending by tens of billions of dollars.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other national security hawks have insisted the military branches are at risk of losing their edge in combat without a dramatic influx of money to repair shortfalls in training and equipment. Congress’ failure to supply adequate budgets is at least partly responsible for a series of deadly ship collisions and helicopter crashes, according to McCain, the Armed Services Committee chairman.

McCain, who is battling an aggressive type of brain cancer, has guided the bill toward passage over the past week as he railed against Washington gridlock and political gamesmanship. But he couldn’t quell disputes among his colleagues over several amendments that so far have been blocked from votes and failed to be added to the bill.

Among them was a proposal by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D- N.Y., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, that would have protected transgender service members from being kicked out of the armed forces. Gillibrand and McCain seek to achieve the same goal through separate legislation they introduced late last week. The bill also is supported by Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel.

Another amendment, from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, would have prevented the government from indefinitely detaining U.S. citizens apprehended on American soil who are suspected of supporting a terrorist group.

Approved by the Armed Services Committee by a vote of 27-0 in late June, the Senate bill would provide $ 640 billion for core Pentagon operations, such as buying weapons and paying troops, and another $60 billion for wartime missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Trump’s budget request sought $603 billion for basic functions and $65 billion for overseas missions.

With North Korea’s nuclear program a clear threat to the U.S. and its allies, the bill would provide $8.5 billion to strengthen U.S. missile and defense systems. The Trump administration only sought about $7.9 billion for those programs, according to a committee analysis.

The legislation requires the Defense Department to deploy up to 14 additional ground- based interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska, that will expand to 58 the number of interceptors designed to destroy incoming warheads. The department also is tasked with finding a storage site for as many as 14 spare interceptors, and senators envision an eventual arsenal of 100 with additional missile fields in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

The White House, in a statement issued earlier this month, called the order for more interceptors “premature” given the Pentagon’s ongoing review of missile defense programs.

Despite the push for the additional billions in military spending, major hurdles need to be cleared before all the extra money materializes. Congress would have to roll back a 2011 law that set strict limits on military spending. That’s a tall order in the Senate, where support from Democrats will be necessary to get the 60 votes required to lift the so-called budget caps. Congress has passed temporary relief from the limits before, but senior military officials have urged that the law be repealed altogether.

As their House counterparts did, the Senate bill rejects Defense Secretary James Mattis’ plan to begin a new round of base closings starting in 2021. He told lawmakers in June that closing excess installations would save $10 billion over a five- year period. Mattis said the savings could be used to acquire four nuclear submarines or dozens of jet fighters. But military installations are prized possessions in states, and lawmakers refused to go along.