The White House is threatening to veto a bill passed by the House Thursday that authorizes $553 billion in new Defense Department spending and $118 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The measure contains several contentious amendments written by Republicans and opposed by President Obama, including language that would limit the president’s ability to implement a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia and another that could block new rules allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
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Republicans also added to the bill an amendment that would force all foreign terror suspects to be tried by military tribunals, something Obama is sure to oppose. The administration favors trying suspects in civilian courts when possible.
The White House earlier this week issued a lengthy warning to Congress that the bill could face a veto if it included the Republican amendments.
Every one of the GOP provisions passed easily in the Republican-lead House Thursday. The House approved the full bill 322-96.
The House vote means a battle over a variety of military policies will likely ensue with the Senate, where Democrats are in control. The Senate has yet to take up its own version of the Defense Authorization measure.
The Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy that it would recommend Obama veto the defense bill if it includes language that limits the president’s ability to implement the new START treaty with Russia. The treaty requires Obama to get rid of some nuclear weapons that are not currently deployed. Republicans included language that would block Obama’s ability to dismantle any weapons unless he can certify that the rest of the U.S. arsenal is being adequately modernized, language the White House calls “onerous.”
The budget office said it also would recommend a veto of a defense bill provision that would prevent the president from using Defense Department money to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, even if it’s just for their trials.
“It unnecessarily constrains our nation’s counterterrorism efforts and would undermine our national security, particularly where our federal courts are the best — or even the only — option for incapacitating dangerous terrorists,” the budget office said.
Republicans also included in the bill a provision that would delay the implementation of a new policy allowing gays to serve openly in the military, a provision to which the White House says it “strongly objects.”
The White House also opposes the bill because it would resurrect development of an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce. Early models of the plane use an engine built by Pratt & Whitney. The Pentagon said the second engine isn’t needed, particularly at a time when the Obama administration is proposing to reduce defense spending.
