U.S. House passes $886 billion defense policy bill

More than two-thirds of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a defense policy bill on Thursday that includes a record $886 billion in annual military spending.

The House backed the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by 310 to 118, with strong support from Republicans and Democrats. It was more than the two-thirds majority required to pass the measure.

The bill will go to the desk of President Joe Biden for final approval.

Separate from the appropriations bills that set government spending levels, the NDAA authorizes everything from pay raises for troops - this year's will be 5.2 percent - to purchases of ships, ammunition and aircraft.

The vote for this year's bill, which is nearly 3,100 pages long and authorizes a record $886 billion, up 3 percent from last year, meant that Congress has passed an NDAA for 63 straight years.

The Democratic-controlled Senate backed the NDAA, also with a strong bipartisan majority – 87 to 13 – on Wednesday.

The fiscal 2024 NDAA also includes a four-month extension of a disputed domestic surveillance authority, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

That provision faced objections in both the Senate and House, but not enough to derail the bill. The Senate defeated an attempt to remove the FISA extension from the NDAA on Wednesday before voting to pass the defense measure.

The House and Senate had each passed their own versions of the NDAA earlier this year. The measure approved this week was a compromise between the two parties and two chambers.

The bill extends one measure to help Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for the program in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and the next one.

However, that figure is a tiny compared to the $61 billion in assistance for Ukraine Biden has asked Congress to approve to help Kyiv as it battles Russia.

(Cover: The U.S. Capitol is seen on December 6, 2023, in Washington. /CFP)

(With input from Reuters)