New Delhi: The House of Representatives of the US Congress approved the country’s defense budget for the fiscal year 2023 (beginning from October 1), totaling approximately $840 billion.
According to a live broadcast by the lower chamber’s official website, the bill was supported by 329 congressmen, while 101 voted against it.
The Senate is to adopt its own version of the bill, which differs from the variant proposed by the House of Representatives. Subsequently, a commission to bring the two versions together will convene. The document is to be approved by both chambers before going to US President Joe Biden for signing. The process may take several months.
Progressive Democrats Mark Pocan and Barbara Lee have proposed an amendment that would slash $100 billion from the military budget. Congressmember Lee said, “More guns and tanks are of no use to Americans without housing, education, or healthcare.”
It includes billions for more aircraft and ships than the Pentagon sought, following a bipartisan vote by the House Armed Services Committee to raise the bill’s price tag by $37 billion. Republicans and a sizable number of Democrats saw Biden’s request — already a $30 billion increase from the current year — as not enough to keep up with runaway inflation and match the challenges posed by China and Russia.
The final Pentagon top line will have to be hammered out by House and Senate leaders in a compromise defense bill. And lawmakers must also pass a spending bill that makes the increase a reality.
The bill also authorizes 64 F-35 fighter jets, three more than the Pentagon sought across the military services. Lawmakers approved $354 million to procure three more F-35C carrier-based jets for the Navy.
The bill also greenlights a 4.6 percent pay raise for troops. And it codifies Biden’s executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contractors across the government to $15 per hour.
(Vinayak)