The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 23-3 to pass its version of its fiscal National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2023, proposing to increase defense spending by approximately $ 45 billion above what the president Biden asked.
The measure allocates $ 857.64 billion in fiscal 2023 to national defense, according to a summary of the bill released by the committee. By comparison, the president proposed $ 813 billion in national defense spending when he presented his budget proposal in late March.
From the top line of the bill, $ 817.33 billion will go to the Pentagon alone, while $ 29.6 billion will go to the Department of Energy. A separate $ 10.6 billion would go to other defense-related activities outside the jurisdiction of the law.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where the entire upper house will consider the bill.
The top lines are well over $ 802.4 billion, which the House Armed Services Committee is ready to consider when it revises its version of the NDAA next Wednesday.
The upper line of the House of Representatives bill will give the Pentagon $ 772.5 billion, the Department of Energy $ 29.5 billion and another $ 400 million for other defense-related activities outside the Department of Defense. It does not include an additional $ 11 billion in national defense spending outside the commission’s jurisdiction.
Once the House passes its bill, both versions will be agreed during the conference committee process in a bill that the House and Senate will have to pass.
Even then, the NDAA is a policy bill that sets funding levels and directs policy, but has no budgetary power. Therefore, a bill on appropriations will still have to be adopted.
In a summary of the Senate bill, the committee said it had approved a $ 45 billion increase to “overcome the effects of inflation and speed up the implementation of the National Defense Strategy.”
Inflation quickly emerged as a key point of debate when Biden released his proposal for national defense spending earlier this year. Republicans have asked Biden to increase defense spending for fiscal 2023 by 3 to 5 percent above inflation.
The upper line also provides additional security assistance to Ukraine, allows accelerated production of certain ammunition and more funding for additional military construction projects and maintenance of facilities.
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The Senate bill is named after Senator James Inhoff (Oklahoma), a leading Republican on the committee who resigned from the upper house in January. Inhoff was first elected to the Senate in November 1994.
Among the main highlights of the bill is $ 800 million in fiscal 2023, so that the United States can provide security assistance to Ukraine through the Initiative to Support Ukraine’s Security.
The measure also directs the Pentagon to set up a team to integrate the Pentagon’s efforts to address China’s national security challenges. He also ordered the Ministry of Defense to set up a service to deal with civilian damage from military operations.
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