Senate passes $ 768B defense measure, sending it to Biden
WASHINGTON— The Senate on Wednesday passed a $ 768 billion defense bill, sending legislation to President Joe Biden that will increase the Pentagon’s budget by roughly $ 24 billion more than he requested.
The bill, which angered anti- war progressives who had hoped Democrats’ unified control of Washington would lead to significant cuts in military spending, passed on an 89- 10 vote.
It includes significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as for more ships, jets and fighter planes than the Pentagon requested.
The lopsided votes, both in the Senate and the House, which passed the legislation last week, underscored the bipartisan commitment in Congress to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives at a time when Republicans have balked at spending even a fraction as much on social programs. Lawmakers said the measure was necessary, pointing to rising threats from China and Russia and previewing a looming race over military technology.
“Our nation faces an enormous range of security challenges,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R. I ., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
“To that end, this bill makes great progress,” he added. “It addresses a broad range of pressing issues from strategic competition with China and Russia; to disruptive technologies like hypersonics, AI and quantum computing; to modernizing our ships, aircraft and vehicles.”
The bill contains a 2.7% pay increase for the troops, and a painstakingly negotiated compromise to strip military comm anders of authority over sexual assault cases and many other serious crimes. The new provision places such crimes under independent military prosecutors in a move that had long been opposed by military leaders and presidents.
Both Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin endorsed the change this year.
The legislation’s main focus — shifting attention from ground conflicts in the Middle East in favor of a renewed concentration on Beijing and Moscow — aligns with the foreign policy vision Biden outlined this summer.
But even as Congress embraced that approach, members could not bring themselves to accept Biden’s request to keep military spending essentially flat, and both Democrats and Republicans instead linked arms in support of substantial increases.
They sent an additional $ 2 billion to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a Pentagon program dedicated to bolstering the department’ s posture in the region, authorizing a total of $ 7 billion for it. They also boosted two similar programs aimed at confronting the rising threat from Moscow, adding about $ 570 million in additional funding to the European Deterrence Initiative, and $ 50 million in additional military assistance to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
What was omitted from the legislation was just as significant. The defense policy bill has typically been considered a mustpass item. This year, the process collapsed after the Senate neither passed its own defense bill nor considered any amendments. Top congressional officials instead met behind closed doors in recent days to cobble together a bill that could quickly pass both chambers before the end of the year.
Stripped from the legislation was a measure requiring women to register with the Selective Service System for the first time in U. S. history, as well as new sanctions on a Russian gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2.
Leaders of the armed services committees also excluded a House- passed provision to repeal the 2002 law authorizing the invasion of Iraq, which has been stretched by multiple administrations to justify military action around the world.