The US Senate passed a bill authorising a record USD 858 billion defence budget on Thursday for next year, with strong bipartisan support, authorising USD 45 billion more than President Joe Biden proposed.
Senators overwhelmingly supported the National Defence Authorisation Act or NDAA, an annual must-pass bill that sets policy for the Pentagon, by a vote of 83-11.
After passing the House of Representatives last week, the NDAA heads to the White House, where Biden is expected to quickly sign it into law.
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The fiscal 2023 NDAA authorises USD 858 billion in military spending, including a 4.6 per cent pay raise for troops, funding for the purchase of weapons, ships, and aircraft and support for Taiwan in the face of Chinese aggression and Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.
“We must put defence first. That’s all there is to it,” Senator Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged support for the bill. Inhofe is retiring from Congress, and this year’s National Defence Authorisation Act is named after him.
As a result of the vote, Congress has passed the NDAA every year since 1961.
Legislators use the NDAA as a vehicle for a variety of initiatives because it is one of the few significant bills that always pass. The bill this year was the result of months of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate.
The fiscal 2023 National Defence Authorisation Act includes a provision demanded by many Republicans in Congress – and opposed by many Democrats – requiring the secretary of defence to rescind a mandate requiring members of the armed forces to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
An attempt to amend the bill to award back pay and reinstate troops who refused the vaccine was unsuccessful.
The bill provides Ukraine with at least USD 800 million in additional security assistance next year and includes a range of provisions to strengthen Taiwan amid tensions with China, including billions of dollars in security assistance and fast-tracked weapons procurement for Taiwan.
The bill authorises additional funding for the development of hypersonic weapons, the closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii and the purchase of weapons systems such as Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 fighter jets and General Dynamics ships.
The NDAA is not the final word on spending.
Authorisation bills create programmes, but appropriations bills give the government the legal authority to spend federal funds.
A bill to fund the government until 30 September 2023, the end of the fiscal year, is expected to be passed by Congress next week.
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