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| Senate Passes $700 Billion Pentagon Bill, More Money Than Trump Sought | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — In a rare act of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, the Senate passed a $700 billion defense policy bill on Monday that sets forth a muscular vision of America as a global power, with a Pentagon budget that far exceeds what President Trump has asked for. | WASHINGTON — In a rare act of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, the Senate passed a $700 billion defense policy bill on Monday that sets forth a muscular vision of America as a global power, with a Pentagon budget that far exceeds what President Trump has asked for. |
| Senators voted 89-9 to approve the measure, known as the National Defense Authorization Act; the House has already adopted a similar version. | Senators voted 89-9 to approve the measure, known as the National Defense Authorization Act; the House has already adopted a similar version. |
| The vote marked the 56th consecutive year that Congress has passed the defense policy bill — a point of personal pride for Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and who has spent the past week shepherding the bill on the Senate floor as he battles brain cancer. | The vote marked the 56th consecutive year that Congress has passed the defense policy bill — a point of personal pride for Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and who has spent the past week shepherding the bill on the Senate floor as he battles brain cancer. |
| In arguing for the increased funding, Mr. McCain cited a string of recent deadly accidents involving the military, including a collision last month between an oil tanker and the destroyer John S. McCain, named for the senator’s father and grandfather. Ten sailors were killed and five others injured. | In arguing for the increased funding, Mr. McCain cited a string of recent deadly accidents involving the military, including a collision last month between an oil tanker and the destroyer John S. McCain, named for the senator’s father and grandfather. Ten sailors were killed and five others injured. |
| “We are gambling with the lives of the best among us and we’re now seeing the cost — the tragic but foreseeable costs of an overworked, strained force with aging equipment and not enough of it,” Mr. McCain said. | “We are gambling with the lives of the best among us and we’re now seeing the cost — the tragic but foreseeable costs of an overworked, strained force with aging equipment and not enough of it,” Mr. McCain said. |
| The 1,215-page bill sets policy on a range of military matters as diverse as whether the Air Force can buy new fighter jets and pay raises for service members. It provides $640 billion for basic Pentagon operations — $37 billion more than President Trump sought — and another $60 billion for war operations overseas in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere. | The 1,215-page bill sets policy on a range of military matters as diverse as whether the Air Force can buy new fighter jets and pay raises for service members. It provides $640 billion for basic Pentagon operations — $37 billion more than President Trump sought — and another $60 billion for war operations overseas in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere. |
| The measure also includes a string of provisions to streamline the management of the Defense Department; along with boosting military spending, overhauling the Pentagon has been a high priority for Mr. McCain. | The measure also includes a string of provisions to streamline the management of the Defense Department; along with boosting military spending, overhauling the Pentagon has been a high priority for Mr. McCain. |
| “He’s someone who has lived with underfunding of the military, seen the impact on readiness, seen the strains that impact the force,” said Anthony N. Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. | “He’s someone who has lived with underfunding of the military, seen the impact on readiness, seen the strains that impact the force,” said Anthony N. Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. |
| The bill also reflects Mr. McCain’s expansive vision of the role of the United States in world affairs. It authorizes $500 million to provide security assistance, including weapons, to Ukraine; $100 million to help Balkan nations “deter Russian aggression” and another $705 million for Israeli cooperative missile defense programs — $558.5 million more than the administration’s request. | The bill also reflects Mr. McCain’s expansive vision of the role of the United States in world affairs. It authorizes $500 million to provide security assistance, including weapons, to Ukraine; $100 million to help Balkan nations “deter Russian aggression” and another $705 million for Israeli cooperative missile defense programs — $558.5 million more than the administration’s request. |
| But while the proposal outlines a hefty defense budget, whether the Pentagon gets the money will be determined by congressional appropriators, and Democrats have pledged to block major increases in military spending without a similar boost for domestic programs. | But while the proposal outlines a hefty defense budget, whether the Pentagon gets the money will be determined by congressional appropriators, and Democrats have pledged to block major increases in military spending without a similar boost for domestic programs. |
| “It’s a grandiose spending plan,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said in a recent interview. | “It’s a grandiose spending plan,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said in a recent interview. |
| Before the bill can be sent to the president for his signature, it must be reconciled with the House version. They are different in a critical respect; the House-passed bill authorizes the creation of a new Space Corps, to manage satellite and other space-related programs, while the Senate bill does not. | Before the bill can be sent to the president for his signature, it must be reconciled with the House version. They are different in a critical respect; the House-passed bill authorizes the creation of a new Space Corps, to manage satellite and other space-related programs, while the Senate bill does not. |
| The proposed corps has drawn opposition from the Air Force, which manages most of the military’s space-related programs, as well as the White House. | The proposed corps has drawn opposition from the Air Force, which manages most of the military’s space-related programs, as well as the White House. |
| The defense bill, approved by the Armed Services Committee by a unanimous vote of 27-0 in June, is one of the few must-pass measures to go through Congress, which makes it a prime target for lawmakers trying to attach amendments to it. Senators had proposed more than 500 amendments, but the vast majority were not attached to the bill. | The defense bill, approved by the Armed Services Committee by a unanimous vote of 27-0 in June, is one of the few must-pass measures to go through Congress, which makes it a prime target for lawmakers trying to attach amendments to it. Senators had proposed more than 500 amendments, but the vast majority were not attached to the bill. |
| Among the amendments kept out of the measure was a controversial proposal by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat, to block Mr. Trump’s directive barring transgender troops from serving in the military. On Friday, Mr. McCain and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services panel, joined Ms. Gillibrand in introducing a separate bill that would allow transgender troops to serve. | Among the amendments kept out of the measure was a controversial proposal by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat, to block Mr. Trump’s directive barring transgender troops from serving in the military. On Friday, Mr. McCain and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services panel, joined Ms. Gillibrand in introducing a separate bill that would allow transgender troops to serve. |