The U.S. Senate is preparing to approve a defense policy bill, which would increase the Pentagon’s budget on an additional $ 700 billion, expanding the system of U.S. missile defense in response to growing hostility from North Korea and a ban on the closure of excess military bases.
The bill must be considered and adopted today. It is based, like many other important bills at the last time, lies a bipartisan compromise. The document of 1215 pages are not fully consistent with the comments of the White House, but Donald trump announced his intention to veto it. Moreover, this bill could help the President to fulfill another of his campaign promise to increase military funding by tens of billions of dollars.
Senator John McCain, Chairman of the armed services Committee, sent the bill to the Senate last week. He was never able to convince his colleagues in the Committee to agree on several points of law. Controversial provisions were removed from the document.
Approved by the armed services Committee in a vote, the bill was passed unanimously in late June (27-0). 700 billion dollars are planned to be allocated to the Pentagon, will eventually consist of 640 billion dollars to buy new weapons and pay the military and another $ 60 billion on military missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries. The President proposed a more modest budget, although only slightly – 603 billion dollars to Finance the activities of the Pentagon and $ 65 billion for the execution of foreign missions.
Since the nuclear program of North Korea constitutes a clear threat to the United States and its allies, the bill will also provide $ 8.5 billion to strengthen and expand the missile defense systems of the United States. According to the analysis conducted by the Committee, it is $ 630 million more than the administration proposed trump.
It should be noted that the acceptance of negotiate bill – not an easy task. The new bill envisages more military spending than at any time of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The major obstacle to its adoption is overcoming the budget limitations of the law of 2011. To circumvent the law it is possible only one way — with the support of Democrats to get the crucial 60 votes. That is why the law will be another test for the U.S. Congress.
