House OKs defense bill authorizing a pay raise for troops, new hardware and military parade

Michael Collins | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Troops will get a pay raise, the armed forces will get lots of new hardware, and President Donald Trump will get his military parade.

The House voted 359-54 on Thursday to approve a $717 billion defense package that adds 15,600 active duty personal to the ranks of the military and authorizes spending on various military programs. The bill is a compromise that resulted from negotiations between the House and the Senate, which had passed different versions of the legislation.

The compromise now heads to the Senate, which is expected give final approval to the bill next week.

“This bill takes a major step forward in rebuilding our military, reforming the Pentagon” and preparing the country for the challenges ahead, said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The legislation, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, doesn’t actually provide money for the military but sets defense policy and serves as a blueprint for federal spending on various military programs. Funding will be determined later by congressional appropriators.

Under the bill, the men and women in uniform will receive a 2.6 percent pay raise, their largest increase in nine years, and special pay and bonuses for those in high-demand fields will be extended.

To improve military readiness, the legislation authorizes $17.7 billion to replace worn-out Army equipment and approves new military hardware, including 77 F-35 Joint Strike fighters and 13 new warships. It also supports the Trump administration’s push for the development of low-yield nuclear warheads.

Trump’s proposal for a military parade in Washington this fall to honor the men and women in uniform is endorsed by the legislation, but with a caveat.

In an earlier version, the House inserted language barring the use of operational units or equipment in the parade if their participation would hamper military readiness. House and Senate negotiators kept that language in the final bill.

One of the most controversial provisions was stricken from the final package. The Senate added language to its version of the bill that would block the Trump administration’s plan to save the Chinese telecom ZTE.

Administration officials announced in June they would lift a crippling ban on U.S. companies doing business with ZTE and instead impose a $1 billion penalty on the firm. The ban had been put in place in retaliation for ZTE violating U.S. sanctions against exporting to Iran and North Korea. Trump moved to lift the ban and impose the penalty instead after a personal request from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A bipartisan group of senators who labeled ZTE a threat to national security inserted language in the Senate version blocking the deal. But that language was stripped during negotiations with the House.

The final package does, however, ban Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei from doing business with the U.S. government or any entity that does business with the government.

In addition, the compromise retains language that bars “military-to-military” cooperation with Russia. The prohibition comes on the heels of overtures by Moscow for increased military cooperation following Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki.

The bill also prohibits the U.S. from recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

More: House debates defense bill that authorizes smaller nukes, space force and a military parade.