The Senate on Thursday night passed its version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 86-11. The bill authorizes a record $886 billion in military spending.
The debt ceiling deal reached between House Republicans and the White House set the NDAA at $886 billion, which is the amount President Biden requested. Hawks in Congress are planning to increase that figure even more by passing “emergency” supplemental funding, which is not limited by the debt ceiling deal.
The Senate rejected amendments to the NDAA that would have increased oversight of the tens of billions in weapons and other aid that the US has been pouring into Ukraine.
An amendment introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to require audits and investigations of Ukraine aid failed in a vote of 20-78, with only Republicans supporting the measure. The Senate also rejected an amendment to establish a lead inspector general for Ukraine aid in a vote of 51-48 (the effort required a three-fifths majority).
The House passed its version of the spending bill earlier this month, so the next step is for the two chambers to negotiate the finalized version that will head to President Biden’s desk. The House version is also worth $886 billion, but the chambers may clash over the spending bill as House Republicans included amendments relating to social policies in the military.
Because of the Republican amendments, the House NDAA narrowly passed in a vote of 219-210, which largely fell along partisan lines. NDAAs typically pass easily as the majority of Republicans and Democrats favor huge amounts of military spending.
Source: AntiWar.
