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News > World

US Senate Approves $700B Military Spending Bill as Trump Touts Peace

  • U.S. military troops.

    U.S. military troops. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 September 2017
Opinion

The National Defense Authorization Act was approved by the U.S. House Senators in an 89-8 vote yesterday.

The U.S. Senate has approved a US$700 billion dollar military-spending bill for 2018 a day before U.S. President Donald Trump proudly stated at the United Nations that the U.S. was a nation of peace.

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The bill exceeds Trump's initial budget request by US$97 billion. It also eclipses a US$549 billion dollar military spending cap established by the 2011 Budget Control Act, according to PressTV.

Despite amendment struggles that delayed the legislative process, the National Defense Authorization Act was approved by the senate in an 89-8 vote Monday. While US$640 billion will be allocated toward base military spending, US$60 billion is slated for warfare.

The NDAA bill comprises a 25 percent spending increase on missile development and adds thousands more active-duty troops. Five new warships will also be constructed.

The eight lone senators who voted against the bill included: Bob Corker (Republican from Tennesse); Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat from New York); Patrick Leahy (Democrat from Vermont.); Mike Lee (Republican from Utah); Jeff Merkley (Democrat from Oregon); Rand Paul (Republican from Kentucky); Bernie Sanders (Independent from Vermont); and Ron Wyden (Democrat from Oregon).

Two Republican senators, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, as well as Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, missed the vote.

The latest military budget follows the logic of an unbreakable trend to date: The United States has waged war 93 percent of the time (222 out of 239 years) since it became a country in 1776. No U.S. president truly qualifies as being considered a peacetime president, according to Global Research.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also details that the United States has a higher military expenditure than the next eight countries combined.

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