The House on Thursday passed a compromise annual defense authorization bill worked out with negotiators from the Senate, which will give service members a 1 percent pay raise next year, trim the growth of healthcare and housing benefits, and allow the Pentagon to continue to train and equip Syrian rebels.
The vote was 300-119, with 194 Republicans and 106 Democrats voting in favor, and 32 Republicans and 87 Democrats voting against.
Senators are expected to take up the legislation next week.
The massive bill is one of the most important “must-pass” measures for Congress, especially in wartime, since it sets policy for the Pentagon and the national security activities of the Department of Energy. It governs how many troops are in the armed forces, how much they are paid and what benefits they receive, which and how many weapons to buy and which to scrap, along with guiding how ongoing operations are conducted, such as the war in Afghanistan and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Though it does not appropriate any money, the bill sets guidelines for appropriators to use in determining Pentagon spending.
The bill also includes a House-passed provision that would continue to bar the administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, and another that authorizes Purple Heart medals and combat-injury benefits for victims of the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Several non-defense-related public lands and energy provisions also were added to the bill. The measures expanded and created national parks to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of land from development, a move environmentalists cheered but conservatives called a land grab.
The oil and gas industry also got one of its priorities through, as one provision extended a program aimed at expediting permits for energy development on federal lands. It also included a land swap that would allow a proposed copper mine, which would be the third-largest in the world, to be constructed in Arizona.
