US President Joe Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, for fiscal year 2022, which authorises $770 billion in defence spending, the White House said on Monday.
US President Joe Biden. Photo: AFP
Earlier this month, the Senate and the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for the defence bill with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans for the annual legislation setting policy for the Department of Defense.
The NDAA is closely watched by a broad swath of industry and other interests because it is one of the only major pieces of legislation that becomes law every year and because it addresses a wide range of issues. The NDAA has become law every year for six decades.
Authorising about 5 percent more military spending than last year, the fiscal 2022 NDAA is a compromise after intense negotiations between House and Senate Democrats and Republicans after being stalled by disputes over China and Russia policy.
It includes a 2.7 percent pay increase for the troops, and more aircraft and Navy ship purchases, in addition to strategies for dealing with geopolitical threats, especially Russia and China.
The NDAA includes $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides support to Ukraine's armed forces, $4b for the European Defense Initiative and $150m for Baltic security cooperation.
On China, the bill includes $7.1b for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and a statement of congressional support for the defence of Taiwan, as well as a ban on the Department of Defense procuring products produced with forced labour from China's Xinjiang region.
It creates a 16-member commission to study the war in Afghanistan. Biden ended the conflict - by far the country's longest war - in August.
- Reuters