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    House Approves Bill to Boost Military Spending

    WASHINGTON—House lawmakers on Thursday passed a defense policy bill that authorizes U.S. military leaders to purchase new weapons and increase pay for troops. 

    In a 350-80 vote, lawmakers approved the annual National Defense Authorization Act to increase America’s total national security budget for fiscal year 2023 to $857.9 billion. That’s a roughly 10% increase from last year’s $778 billion authorization bill. The measure was passed under a process requiring approval from two-thirds of voting House members. 

    The legislation is expected to pass the Senate by the end of next week before heading to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

    In addition to authorizing spending, the bill also contains hundreds of smaller proposals, including a Republican-led initiative to remove a requirement that members of the military be vaccinated against Covid-19

    Included in the bill is language authorizing up to $10 billion over five years to finance sales of weaponry and military equipment to Taiwan, and provide training and other security assistance to help the island defend itself against a possible invasion by China. U.S. military officials predicted in 2020 that Beijing could invade Taiwan by 2027.

    Other provisions in the bill would designate $800 million for security assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces, authorize funding for research and development of a new nuclear-capable cruise missile that could be launched from ships or submarines, and preserve five of nine littoral combat ships. The high-tech, fast-moving ships with lean crews are designed to pursue pirates, detect mines and ply coastal waters.

    The proposal would approve a 4.6% pay raise for military service members and Defense Department civilians and increase the housing allowance for service members by 2%. 

    The bill would also discourage government agencies from purchasing items that contain semiconductors made by several Chinese companies. The ban, which would be phased in over five years, comes as U.S. manufacturers challenge Chinese competitors for dominance in the $550 billion industry.

    Before the vote, both Democrats and Republicans spoke in favor of the bill.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called the bill a strong, bipartisan measure.



    Photo:

    Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

    Rep.

    Mike Gallagher

    (R., Wis.) said he strongly supported the bill as one “that will help protect this country and take care of the young men and women who sacrifice for our freedom on a daily basis.”

    “We got a lot of good things done in this year’s process,” he said, citing a raise in military pay and provisions to make professional military education focus on war fighting.

    Rep.

    Ruben Gallego

    (D., Ariz.) said the bill also “authorizes a range of critical provisions to address strategic challenges from China and Russia,” noting that it contains billions of dollars to strengthen the U.S.’s relationship with its European allies.

    Republicans had pushed for the bill to end the Defense Department’s Covid-19 vaccine rule from August 2021, arguing that it would help recruitment. Roughly 3,400 U.S. military members had been discharged for refusing to get the vaccine as of April, according to a letter that 13 Senate Republicans sent to party leaders on the issue last week.

    Sen.

    Rick Scott

    (R., Fla.) said the vaccine-related provisions should be expanded to help military members who were discharged because they refused to get the vaccine. 

    “They need to be reinstated with back pay,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. 

    At a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh declined to answer several questions from reporters about the proposed legislation, including what will happen if a non-vaccinated service member is sent to a country that requires vaccinated visitors. 

    The defense bill is one of two major initiatives that Congress is trying to finish by the end of the year, along with a spending bill that would fund the operations of the U.S. government. Negotiators need to reach a deal on funding the government by Dec. 16, or pass a short-term measure delaying the deadline, to avoid a partial government shutdown.

    House lawmakers were originally scheduled to vote on the defense bill on Wednesday, but several members of the Congressional Black Caucus threatened to block the bill unless leaders added a provision to the legislation that would give the federal government new power over states’ voting procedures. Democrats say that change is needed to protect the political power of minority voters.

    The U.S. Supreme Court is considering additional legal challenges to the Voting Rights Act.

    Sen. Joe Manchin wants to amend the bill to include a measure that would speed up environmental reviews of major energy projects.



    Photo:

    Cliff Owen/Zuma Press

    House leaders instead moved to pass the bill on suspension instead, requiring two-thirds of House support to pass, on the assumption that a significant number of Republicans would back it.

    The defense-policy bill typically passes in the final weeks of a legislative session as outgoing members’ terms wrap up, prompting some lawmakers to try to include nondefense provisions as a last-ditch effort to pass legislation they care about. 

    The bill also includes a provision that would make it easier for banks to hire employees with minor criminal offenses on their records. Under a 1950 law, banks are restricted from hiring anyone convicted of a crime of dishonesty or breach of trust, which some bank officials have said has made it harder to hire some candidates with diverse backgrounds.

    In the end, lawmakers didn’t include language that would have enabled banks to do business with marijuana companies and omitted a provision that would have created a process for publishers of smaller news outlets to negotiate for compensation when technology giants such as Facebook and Google use their content.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) continued to press lawmakers to amend the bill to include a measure that would speed up environmental reviews of major energy projects. On Wednesday, he released a new, lightly amended version of the proposal he initially unveiled in September

    While the measure has had support from fossil-fuel and clean-energy developers along with Mr. Biden, some Democrats and environmentalists worried that speeding up oil and gas projects could risk damaging ecosystems and compromise the health of nearby residents. Republicans have also resisted attaching Mr. Manchin’s legislation.

    Also included in the defense bill is a piece of legislation, known as the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, that would allow federal judges to get personal information, like their home addresses, scrubbed from the internet. The judicial privacy measure is named after Daniel Anderl, who was killed in an attack at the New Jersey home of his mother, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas.

    Some press freedom and pro-transparency groups have criticized the legislation, saying it is well-intentioned but could interfere with legitimate reporting on the judiciary, including on the financial dealings of judges and their spouses.

    To protect legitimate newsgathering, the bill includes an exemption for “information relevant to and displayed as part of a news story, commentary, editorial, or other speech on a matter of public concern.” But the press freedom groups say this exemption is insufficient, arguing it wouldn’t protect online encyclopedias and databases that journalists might rely on.

    Sen.

    Bob Menendez

    (D., N.J.) defended the measure. “In no way does our bill prevent journalists from reporting on matters of public concern. In no way does it impede critical efforts to uncover ethical conflicts for the spouses of federal judges, including necessary reporting by the press,” he said.

    Natalie Andrews, Andrew Ackerman and Jan Wolfe contributed to this article. 

    Write to Katy Stech Ferek at katy.stech@wsj.com

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