CAPITOL HILL-
The US Senate passed the defense spending bill for the new fiscal year on Wednesday (December 15) to provide the Pentagon with the necessary funds to maintain the US military. The bill will then be sent to the White House and signed by President Biden.
The Senate passed the final coordinated version of the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2022 with an overwhelming result of 88 votes in favor and 11 votes on Wednesday. The original vote was 89 in favor and 10 against, but some members changed their vote. This bill also received cross-party support from the House of Representatives last week, passing the House of Representatives with 363 votes in favor and 70 votes against it.
The total expenditure of the National Defense Authorization Act in the new fiscal year is as high as US$770 billion, which is US$25 billion more than the expenditure plan proposed by the Biden administration. At the same time, it is an increase of about 5% over last year’s defense budget.
The bill will allocate 7.1 billion US dollars into the “Pacific Deterrence Initiative” to provide funds for the United States’ strategic competition with China in the Indo-Pacific region. The bill also includes a number of specific measures to assist Taiwan in improving its self-defense capabilities, including inviting Taiwan to participate in military exercises around the Pacific.
In addition, the bill requires the Ministry of National Defense to prohibit the purchase of any products produced by forced labor in Xinjiang.
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