The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Senate approves $700B military defense spending bill by 89 to 8

Measure expands missile defenses, keeps bases open.

- By Richard Lardner

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.

The 1,215-page measure defies a number of White House objections, but President Donald Trump hasn’t threatened to veto the measure. The bill helps him honor a pledge to rebuild an American military that he said had become depleted on former President Barack Obama’s watch.

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, guided the bill toward passage as he railed against Washington gridlock and political gamesmansh­ip. But he couldn’t quell disputes among his colleagues over

several contentiou­s amendments that were 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. That bill also is supported by Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel.

Approved by the Armed Services Committee by a 27-0 vote in late June, the overall Senate bill provides $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 growing threat to the U.S. and its allies, the bill includes $8.5 billion to strengthen U.S. missile and

defense systems. That’s $630 million more than the Trump administra­tion sought for those programs, according to a committee analysis.

North Korea last week conducted its longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile, firing an intermedia­te-range weapon over U.S. ally Japan into the northern Pacific Ocean. The launch signaled both defiance of its rivals and a significan­t technologi­cal advance.

The legislatio­n directs the Defense Department to deploy up to 14 additional ground-based intercepto­rs at Fort Greely, Alaska, an increase 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 other 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.

 ?? MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES ?? Sen. John McCain (R, Ariz.) speaks to reporters in the Senate Subway before the Senate takes up the National Defense Authorizat­ion Act for FY2018 on Capitol Hill Monday in Washington, D.C. The NDAA authorizes levels of defense spending.
MARK WILSON / GETTY IMAGES Sen. John McCain (R, Ariz.) speaks to reporters in the Senate Subway before the Senate takes up the National Defense Authorizat­ion Act for FY2018 on Capitol Hill Monday in Washington, D.C. The NDAA authorizes levels of defense spending.

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