Senate passes $858B military spending bill

Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Senate lawmakers Thursday overwhelming passed the annual defense policy bill that allocates $858 billion for the Pentagon to spend during the next fiscal year, and includes an increase in military aid for Ukraine and Taiwan while rescinding the Biden administration's mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for service members.

The bill, titled the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, passed the Senate 83-11, and now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden as the House had signed off it in earlier this month.

It earmarks $816.7 billion for the Department of Defense and $30.3 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy.

Under the bill, both military service members and the Pentagon's civilian workforce will see a 4.6% pay raise and additional funding to stymie the effects of inflation will be authorized.

The vote came as the Senate also approved a stopgap funding bill late Thursday to prevent a government shutdown to give lawmakers until Dec. 23 to negotiate an omnibus spending bill for 2023, which remains Congress' last major legislation to pass before the close of the 117th Congress with the turning of the calendar year.

With its passing of the annual defense bill, Congress marks its 62nd consecutive year of authorizing Pentagon spending.

"This bipartisan bill strengthens national security by ensuring our military has the resources it needs to defend our nation, deter conflict and meet a range of evolving security challenges," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement following the Senate vote.

The Senate passed the bill following weeks of negotiating that saw the Democrats relent on maintaining the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for all service members put in place to fight the pandemic as Republicans threatened to delay passing the bill over its inclusion.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration chastised the GOP over its removal, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling it a "mistake" as the mandate ensures troops are prepared for service.

"Republicans in Congress have decided that they'd rather fight against the health and well being of our troops than protecting them," she told reporters during a Dec. 7 press conference.

The next day, a group of GOP Senates cheered the rescinding of the mandate being included in the defense bill, blaming it for a drop in new military recruits.

"The United States needs a strong military to protect our country against the growing threats facing our nation," Sens. Mark Crapo, R-Idaho; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Marsha Blackburn, T-Tenn.; and others said in a statement.

"We are pleased that the final conferenced bill includes language mirroring our amendments' efforts to protect troops from being fired due to Biden's COVID vaccine mandate without fair appeal and to the harm of service readiness."

Blackburn has said that 8,400 troops were fired under the mandate policy, and some Republicans also sought to include compensation for service members who were discharged over their failure to comply with the vaccine mandate, but the measure by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was voted down.

The defense spending bill, which is $45 billion more than Biden's budget request, includes $800 million for Ukraine in fiscal year 2023 as well as establishes a specific defense modernization program for Taiwan that is bolstered by $10 billion in security assistance over the next five years.

The bill also requires a whole-of-government strategy to counter Chinese influence campaigns and economic coercion targeting the island state and countries that support Taiwan.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations, described this year's defense bill as one of the most consequential for setting the theater to protect Taiwan should China continue on its "collision course toward war."

"This legislation will clarify in even starker terms the reality of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship: Taiwan's democracy remains the beating heart to our Indo-Pacific strategy, and the depth and strength of our commitment to the people of Taiwan is stronger than ever," he said in a statement.