WASHINGTON – House Republicans and
Democrats joined forces Tuesday to decisively approve a defense policy
bill that authorizes $700 billion to restock what lawmakers have
described as a depleted U.S. military and counter North Korea's
advancing nuclear weapons program.
Lawmakers voted 356-70 to pass the legislation, with
127 Democrats backing the measure. Once the defense bill clears the
Senate, which is expected this week, the bill will be sent to President
Donald Trump for his signature.
The defense bill for the 2018 fiscal year allots some
$634 billion for core Pentagon operations and nearly $66 billion for
wartime missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. The funding
boost pays for more troops, jet fighters, ships and other weapons needed
to halt an erosion of the military's combat readiness, according to the
bill's backers.
Trump's 2018 request sought $603 billion for basic
functions and $65 billion for overseas missions. But securing the higher
amounts remains contingent upon Congress reaching an agreement to roll
back a 2011 law that set strict limits on most federal spending. That's a
lot harder than it sounds, however. Lifting the budget caps will face
resistance from Democrats who also are seeking to increase the budgets
for domestic agencies.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the
House Armed Services Committee, voted for the bill while also
criticizing Congress for refusing to come to grips with its
out-of-control approach to budgeting. Smith said it's inconsistent for
Republicans to push for billions of dollars more in defense spending
while also advocating tax overhaul legislation that will deepen federal
deficits over the next decade.
Even if Congress had a "fit of fiscal responsibility"
and decided to raise revenue instead of cutting it, Smith said, "we're
still looking at needs within the national security budget ... that are
wildly beyond the amount of money that we have."
Republicans insist tax cuts will essentially pay for
themselves by spurring economic growth. But the Armed Services Committee
chairman, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, urged his colleagues to focus
on the military's immediate and substantial needs.
"It is morally wrong to send men and women out on
missions with our military, for which they are not fully supported,
fully trained, (and) equipped with the best equipment our country can
provide," he said.
The defense legislation includes $12.3 billion for the
Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency and orders a more rapid buildup of the
nation's missile defenses as Pyongyang has refused to back away from
developing nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States.
The bill includes money for as many as 28 additional
Ground-Based Interceptors, which are anti-missile missiles that would be
launched from underground silos in Alaska in the event the U.S. decided
to try to shoot down a North Korean missile heading toward the United
States. The interceptors are designed to directly hit the enemy missile
outside the Earth's atmosphere, obliterating it by the force of impact.
Lawmakers also have required Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis to develop a plan for increasing the overall number of so-called
GBIs from 44 to 104. The bill also directs the Pentagon to procure more
ship-based interceptors and missiles for the Terminal High Altitude Area
Defense, or THAAD, a U.S. mobile anti-missile system.
North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Ja Song Nam, said in a
letter Monday to Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres that the
unprecedented deployment of three U.S. aircraft carrier groups "taking
up a strike posture" around the Korean peninsula has made it impossible
to predict when nuclear war will break out. The carriers are
participating in joint naval exercises with North Korea.
"The large-scale nuclear war exercises and blackmails,
which the U.S. staged for a whole year without a break in collaboration
with its followers to stifle our republic, make one conclude that the
option we have taken was the right one and we should go along the way to
the last," Ja's letter reads.
The policy bill also grants U.S. troops a 2.4 percent
pay raise, which is slightly higher than the wage increase the Pentagon
had proposed.
Lawmakers also approved an increase of more than 20,000
active-duty and reserve troops from last year's level. The Army gets
the largest boost and will receive 7,500 more active-duty Army soldiers
and 1,000 additional reserve troops.
The defense bill provides money for 90 F-35 Joint
Strike Fighters, 20 more than Trump asked for, as well as 24 F/A-18
Super Hornet jet fighters, 10 more than requested. The budget also
includes three Littoral Combat Ships, two beyond the budget request. The
ships are new to the fleet and operate in congested areas near the
shore against small boats and mines.