US House passes $692bn defence bill

The US House of Representatives has passed a defence policy bill of nearly $692 billion for the 2018 fiscal year, the media reported.

The House on Tuesday voted 356-70 to approve the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) reached after negotiations with the Senate, reports The Hill magazine.

The bill would authorise $626.4 billion for the base defence budget and $65.7 billion for a war fund known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.

The money would go toward a 2.4 per cent pay raise for troops, an increase of 20,000 active duty and reserve troops across the services, bulked up missile defence, increased operations in Afghanistan, and more ships, planes and other equipment.

The bill is moving forward without an agreement in Congress to raise budget caps, which NDAA funding levels burst through.

The bill would give Air Force Space Command sole authority for organising, training and equipping all space forces within the Air Force.

--IANS

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