After a full day of voting on various amendments, the House Armed Services Committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of passing the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
The defense spending bill, which the committee passed 57-1 after midnight on Thursday morning following more than 12 hours of debating, includes a top line of $37 billion more than what President Joe Biden initially requested. Hundreds of amendments were debated and voted on.
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“This year’s defense bill builds on the Committee’s six-decade-long tradition of investing in the people, programs, and technologies that strengthen our common defense. At a time when democracies around the world face enormous challenges and unprecedented threats, we have sent a powerful, bipartisan message to our allies and partners, global competitors, and the American people: democracy still works — and it can deliver real results,” Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said in a statement.
Smith opposed increasing the top line, but the amendment, which Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) introduced, passed with a 42-17 vote. The increase, however, is still smaller than the $45 billion bump the Senate Armed Services Committee added last week.
“We need only look to world events in Ukraine, read reports regarding China’s plans and actions in the South China Sea, or simply read the latest headlines about Iranian nuclear ambitions and North Korean missile tests, as well as ongoing terrorist threats, in order to see why this additional funding is necessary to meet the security challenges of our time,” Golden said Wednesday.
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The bump would be used to buy eight additional F/A-18 jets and five more C-130 cargo planes and would pay to keep five littoral combat ships that the Pentagon has sought to retire, among other things. It also includes $550 million to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
