Senate on bipartisan vote passes massive defense bill as fight awaits in House
The Senate on a final vote Wednesday gave strong support to a massive defense spending policy for fiscal year 2024, setting up what is likely to be a more contentious fight in the House. The final bipartisan vote was 87-13 in favor of what is considered one of the few must-pass bills every year in Congress.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops, $800 million to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and $11.5 billion to counter Chinese threats in East Asia.
Congressional leaders hope to conclude work on the bill before the Christmas break but a number of issues are likely to spark a sharper fight in the House when it takes up the measure Thursday.
“I am pleased that the Senate has come together to once again pass a strong, bipartisan defense bill,” Seante Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, said in a statement after the vote. “This is a dangerous moment in the world, and the NDAA makes critical progress toward meeting the threats we face.”
Among its hundreds of policy provisions, the NDAA also will advance the Biden administration’s nuclear submarine agreement with Britain and Australia, a deal seen as another check on China’s rising power in the region.
“Our bill should signal to China, Russia, and others that we will not accept a world where America does not have the best fighting force,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker,the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “While I would have preferred to send [President Biden] t a substantially larger proposed investment in our industrial base, he now should approve the monumental investments Congress intends to make in our servicemembers, warships, submarines, aircraft and technology.”
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