Senate OKs $901B defense bill

By STEPHEN GROVES | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -The Senate gave final passage Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela.

The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans - Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee - and 18 Democrats voted against the bill.

The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump's national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America. The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine.

But overall, the bill represents a compromise between the parties. It implements many of Trump's executive orders and proposals on eliminating diversity and inclusion efforts in the military and grants emergency military powers at the U.S. border with Mexico. It also enhances congressional oversight of the Department of Defense, repeals several years-old war authorizations and seeks to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons as the U.S. tries to outpace China in developing the next generation of military technology.

"We're about to pass, and the president will enthusiastically sign, the most sweeping upgrades to DoD's business practices in 60 years," said Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Still, the sprawling bill did face objections from both Democratic and Republican leadership on the Senate Commerce Committee and the head of the National Transportation Safety Board. That's because the legislation could allow military aircraft to obtain a waiver to operate without broadcasting their precise location, as an Army helicopter had done before a midair collision with an airliner over Washington, D.C., in January that killed 67 people.

To address those concerns, the Senate advanced a bill to require all military and civilian aircraft to broadcast their locations. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said the tragedy might have been avoided had the Black Hawk been broadcasting its location before the crash.

That bill will now go to the House, and Cruz said he's optimistic it could reach the president's desk as soon as next month. The White House supports the bill and is committed to helping get it passed, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal public statement on the bill.

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