House OKS $858B defense bill, dropping rule for COVID shots

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed an $858 billion defense policy bill that would rescind the Pentagon’s mandate that troops receive the coronavirus vaccine, pushing past the objections of the Biden administration as lawmakers in both parties united behind another huge increase in military spending.

The legislation would grant a 4.6 percent raise to military personnel and increase the Pentagon’s budget by $45 billion over President Joe Biden’s request, providing $800 million in new security aid to Ukraine and billions to Taiwan. It also includes changes sought by lawmakers to the military’s policy for handling sexual assault cases.

The vote was 350-80, with a substantial number of Republicans joining Democrats in support.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, called the repeal of the vaccine requirement for troops a “mistake” and blamed Republicans, who he said had politicized the bill. But he stopped short of saying Biden would veto it.

The bill also must still make its way through the evenly divided Senate, where the support of at least 10 Republicans is necessary to scale the 60-vote threshold for moving forward with major legislation.

The legislation reflects growing determination among lawmakers to increase military spending to counter Russia’s sustained assault on Ukraine and rising fears about Chinese aggression toward Taiwan. It would increase funding for a Ukrainian security initiative above Biden’s request and establish a defense modernization program for Taiwan, authorizing up to $10 billion in security assistance over the next five years.

And it would approve more than $2.7 billion to bolster the production of munitions in an effort to counter concerns that the nation’s stockpiles have been depleted by the United States’ attempt to meet Ukraine’s demands for weapons.

The bill builds on reforms to the military justice system passed last year, removing commanders from decisions in the prosecution of sexual assault cases and vesting those powers with independent prosecutors. Last year’s defense policy bill stripped military commanders of most of their authority to prosecute sexual assaults and myriad other criminal cases, but it allowed them to keep key decisionmaking powers.

Military personnel “now have a system of justice that is worthy of their sacrifice,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who long championed the measure. “We now have a system of justice that is independent, that is transparent and accountable.”