This year’s bill is nearly 3,100 pages long and allows for 3% more funding than last year. The bill was passed with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans, transcending partisan differences on social issues.
Separate from appropriations bills that set government spending levels, the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizes everything from pay increases for military personnel (5.2% this year) to purchases of ships, munitions and aircraft, and measures such as measures to help Ukraine and counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The NDAA “will ensure that America can hold the line against Russia, stand firm against the Chinese Communist Party and ensure that America’s military will always remain state-of-the-art around the world,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote.
The 100-member Senate backed the NDAA by a vote of 87 to 13. The House is expected to pass it later this week and send it to the White House, where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.
Help to Ukraine
The bill extends one Ukraine assistance measure, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024, and the following.
But that figure dwarfs the $61 billion in aid to Ukraine that Biden asked Congress to approve to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
That emergency spending request has been stuck in Congress because Republicans refused to approve aid to Ukraine until Democrats agreed to a significant tightening of immigration laws.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers at the Capitol on Dec. 12 to make the case for funding requested by Biden, but emerged from meetings with lawmakers without Republican commitments.
2023-12-14 06:28:55
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