The House passed its annual defense policy bill on Thursday, authorizing roughly $840 billion in spending for the fiscal year 2023 and approving a $37 billion boost to President Joe Biden's defense budget.
The lower chamber passed the bill on a bipartisan 329-101 vote, with 39 Democrats and 62 Republicans being against the measure. It would serve as a huge boost to the country's technological advancements that would allow it to better compete with China, Iran, and Russia.
Massive Defense Bill
A separate version of the annual defense policy bill still has to be considered in the Senate, and then both versions will be reconciled in the conference committee before the bill makes its way through both chambers for final passage.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said on Wednesday that the upper chamber would likely begin debating its version of the bill in September due to other high-profile bills being ironed out.
The House Armed Services Committee first advanced the bill in June by a vote of 57-1. In a statement on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alaska, a ranking member of the committee, said that the bill was "the definition of a bipartisan bill," as per The Hill.
Rogers added that the $840 billion defense bill will enhance Congressional oversight of the Department of Defense and will improve the quality of life of the country's service members and their families. The lawmaker said the new bill would also ensure that the nation's military is properly resourced and equipped to defend the country and its allies.
Out of the total funding, the House bill allocates $808.4 billion in discretionary spending to the Pentagon, $30.5 billion to the Department of Energy, and another $400 million in defense-related activities elsewhere in the federal government.
According to the Washington Post, the passing of the bill shows strong bipartisan support for legislation that aims to help the United States better compete with China technologically, address mistakes made during last year's withdrawal from Afghanistan, improve scrutiny of the military aid supplied to Ukraine, and target a rise in domestic extremism.
Funding for Local, International Security
The text of the massive defense bill was not made public and is considered to be one of the few "must-pass" bills Congress authors each year. The bill devotes considerable attention to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's breakthroughs in hypersonic weapons and other cutting-edge technology, and rampant inflation that is battering the U.S. economy.
The funding also directs military leaders to analyze the dangers posed by individuals in uniforms who espouse white supremacist beliefs, neo-Nazism, and antisemitism. The legislation made specific mention of the Proud Boys, a far-right group whose prominent role in last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol has been a crucial topic.
In addition to demanding that the U.S. military in Europe detach itself from the Kremlin's energy supplies, the House voted this week to prevent Moscow from trading in gold or rejoining international organizations. American lawmakers also ordered the Pentagon to implement, within six months, better accounting practices for all of the U.S. military assistance being sent to Ukraine.
In a statement, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith said, "We have a complex threat environment when you look at Russia and China and Iran. The war in Ukraine is a devastating threat to peace, stability, and democracy, not just in Eastern Europe, but across the globe that we are working with partners to try to address. So we have to make sure that we have a strong bill," the New York Times reported.
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