Joe Biden Signs $770 Defense Bill Into Law, Prioritizes Countering Chinese Aggression

President Joe Biden signed the $768 billion defense spending measure for 2022, which includes some special protections to deter Chinese aggression. The boost in spending includes a 2.7 percent wage hike for service members and a 5% increase in military spending, according to a White House statement.

On Monday, December 27, 2021, the president signed into law S. 1605, the 'National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA] for the Fiscal Year 2022,' which authorizes appropriations for the fiscal year 2022 primarily for Department of Defense programs and military construction, Department of Energy national security programs, and intelligence programs, the White House said in a statement.

Defense spending bill focuses on current Taiwan-China crisis

According to the report, the agreement was reached after lengthy negotiations with the opposition (Republicans) and several Democrats. Reforms to the military justice system and COVID-19 vaccine requirements for soldiers were also included in the recently passed law, Republic World reported.

A $7.1 billion special provision has been added to the plan to fight Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific area. According to President Biden, the extra spending is also focused on the current Taiwan-China problem. The 61st straight year that Pentagon policy legislation has become law was marked with the passage of the compromise National Defense Authorization Act, which was released in its final form and passed the House and Senate handily this month.

The White House stated that Biden had signed the bill into law in a statement. The law rejects President Biden's $715 billion Pentagon budget request in favor of $740 billion for the Pentagon.

While Biden's request amounted to increased military expenditure over current levels, Republicans slammed the plan as insufficient to keep up with inflation and Chinese and Russian military progress. Per POLITICO via MSN, most Democrats on Capitol Hill agreed, and in their different versions of the military bill, the House and Senate also supported additional budget increases.

Biden's newly signed spending bill will be spent on weapons procurement

Overall, the bill allocates $768 billion for national defense initiatives, including the Pentagon and Department of Energy nuclear weapons projects. However, the defense policy law just authorizes spending rather than allocating funds. For the defense increase to become a reality, lawmakers must still agree to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, money for the Pentagon and other federal agencies has been frozen at levels set by former President Donald Trump last year. That implies total defense funding will be lower than even Biden's suggested level, which Congress rejected as insufficient.

The approved budget increase will result in billions more spent on weapons procurement, including more planes and ships than the Pentagon had asked. Top Democrats have praised the final bill for a number of legislative wins, including a change in how the military justice system handles sexual assault and other offenses. The final bill also includes language pushed by Democrats that prohibits private funding for cross-state National Guard deployments except in the event of a natural disaster.

In his statement, the president also listed a number of measures that his government rejects due to "constitutional problems or construction questions," as he put it. Provisions in those planks prohibit the use of monies to transfer or release detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which the Biden administration is working to abolish, as per Newsweek via MSN.

The provisions, according to Biden's statement, "unduly impair" the executive branch's ability to decide when and where to prosecute detainees and where to send them when they're released and could constrain US negotiations with foreign countries over detainee transfers, potentially jeopardizing national security.