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   XPost: alt.military   
   From: rachel-madcow@msnbc.com   
      
   In article    
   forging asshole  wrote:   
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   The House approved sweeping defense policy legislation on   
   Thursday that marks the second straight year Democrats and   
   Republicans endorsed significant increases to President Joe   
   Biden’s Pentagon spending plan.   
      
   The $839 billion National Defense Authorization Act, approved in   
   a 329-101 vote, is $37 billion more than the administration   
   sought in military spending.   
      
   On top of the budget, the bill also rebukes several of Biden’s   
   national security plans. Members maintained a nuclear cruise   
   missile the administration planned to scrap, hampered F-16 sales   
   to Turkey and limited the number of aircraft and ships the   
   Pentagon can retire.   
      
   In a bipartisan blowout, 180 Democrats and 149 Republicans   
   joined forces to pass legislation, which authorizes Pentagon   
   spending levels and sets overarching military policy.   
      
   “It is the definition of a bipartisan bill,” said Rep. Mike   
   Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the Armed Services   
   Committee.   
      
   It includes billions for more aircraft and ships than the   
   Pentagon sought, following a bipartisan vote by the House Armed   
   Services Committee to raise the bill’s price tag by $37 billion.   
   Republicans and a sizable number of Democrats saw Biden’s   
   request — already a $30 billion increase from the current year —   
   as not enough to keep up with runaway inflation and match   
   challenges posed by China and Russia.   
      
   The final Pentagon topline will have to be hammered out by House   
   and Senate leaders in a compromise defense bill. And lawmakers   
   must also pass a spending bill that makes the increase a reality.   
      
   Lawmakers this week slugged it out over the size of the Pentagon   
   budget. The House rejected a push by progressive Reps. Barbara   
   Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) to revert the bill to   
   Biden’s original $802 billion request, though most Democrats   
   backed the effort.   
      
   House Armed Services Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.) unsuccessfully   
   fought against increasing the topline during a June committee   
   markup. He backed the progressive push to slash the topline by   
   $37 billion, arguing Biden’s budget level is sufficient to meet   
   the military’s needs.   
      
   “It’s not like we aren’t spending money if we stick to the   
   president’s budget,” Smith said. “I think that’s the number we   
   should stick to.”   
      
   Biden’s quest to sell F-16 fighters to Turkey also suffered a   
   setback at the hands of Democrats, as the House approved an   
   amendment that added hurdles to the jet sale to the NATO ally   
   amid concerns about its purchase of Russian weapons, violation   
   of neighboring countries’ territory and human rights concerns.   
      
   The measure was adopted 244-179, with 184 Democrats backing the   
   proposal. If the provision becomes law, Biden will have to   
   certify that the sale is critical to U.S. national security.   
      
   Progressives suffered another blow by the inclusion of funding   
   to continue the development of a sea-launched nuclear cruise   
   missile, a program the White House sought to kill. But lawmakers   
   added guardrails on the weapon by requiring an analysis of   
   alternatives and the declassification of the Pentagon’s Nuclear   
   Posture Review before funding can be freed up.   
      
   Most contentious issues that could have broken up the bill’s   
   bipartisan coalition were kept off the floor, most notably a   
   progressive-led effort to expand troops’ access to abortions at   
   military medical facilities.   
      
   Still, Democrats muscled through some of their priorities.   
      
   The House narrowly approved a provision from Del. Eleanor Holmes   
   Norton (D-D.C.) that grants the mayor of the District of   
   Columbia the same control over its National Guard that governors   
   of states have, whereas the city’s Guard powers are currently   
   controlled by the president. The amendment was approved by the   
   House after failing in the Armed Services Committee.   
      
   Democrats also voted to repeal the 2002 Iraq War authorization,   
   a post-9/11 presidential power that authorized military force   
   with Congress’ approval. Similar proposals have passed the House   
   but haven’t yet seen action in the Senate, despite Senate   
      
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