Congress passes funding bill with major cash infusion for Pentagon

WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday passed a spending bill to fund the government and avoid a shutdown as part of a deal that includes a significant cash influx for the Defense Department with a 9% budget increase over fiscal 2022 levels on top of billions in additional aid for Ukraine.

The House on Friday voted 225-201 to pass the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill after the Senate did the same 68-29 on Thursday. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation, which includes $817 billion for the FY23 Pentagon budget as well as another $27.9 billion for the Defense Department to continue its effort to support Ukraine. This marks a significant increase over the $773 billion in defense spending Biden asked for as part of his budget proposal earlier this year.

“The world’s greatest military will get the funding increase that it needs, outpacing inflation,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. “This is a debate about American security, American servicemembers, and American interests on the world stage.”

The agreement contains $8 billion specifically allocated to help the Pentagon cope with the impact of inflation, including $1 billion in acquisition-related costs and $3.7 billion for fuel. Republicans and some centrist Democrats have hammered the Biden administration for underestimating the inflation rate in its budget proposal .

The bill brings the total amount of emergency cash Congress has given the Pentagon to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion to $61.4 billion since the war started in March.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to Congress — and skeptical House Republicans — for additional aid in a joint address Wednesday following a meeting with Biden at the White House .

“It is just a matter of time when [Russia] will strike against your other allies if we do not stop them now,” said Zelenskyy. “There should be no taboos between us in our alliance. Ukraine never asked the American soldiers to fight on our land instead of us. I assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves.”

The omnibus includes $9.3 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Pentagon to contract for new weapons and equipment for Kyiv.

Another $11.9 billion in the Ukraine supplemental spending is allocated for the Defense Department to replenish weapons the U.S. has already sent to Kyiv from its existing stockpiles under presidential drawdown authority. The bill also increases Biden’s drawdown authority for Ukraine to $14.5 billion for FY23, allowing him to continue transferring weapons from U.S. stocks.

Littoral combat ships

The bill takes aim at the Navy’s efforts to retire littoral combat ships , which Congress inhibited when it passed the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act earlier this month. A report accompanying the omnibus directs Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro to submit a plan on littoral combat ships to Congress within a month from when the bill becomes law.

“The Navy is conducting studies on the alternative uses of these platforms, including the future integration of unmanned systems,” the report states. “It is noted and appreciated that the Navy is taking these positive steps in utilizing ships that were funded at great taxpayer expense.”

The omnibus allocates $31.9 billion for the Navy to buy an additional 12 ships with an eye on bolstering the fleet to compete with China in the Indo-Pacific. That includes $6.9 billion for three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, despite the White House’s opposition to acquiring a third such ship .

“Month after month, year after year, competitors such as China are methodically pouring money and planning into upgrading and modernizing their own militaries,” said McConnell. “They are constantly probing new ways to expand their military, intelligence, economic, and political reach — indirectly or directly threatening American forces and our allies’ and partners’ forces.

Additionally, the bill provides $4.5 billion for two Virginia-class fast attack submarines, $3.1 billion for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, another $3.1 billion for two amphibious assault ships and $1.1 billion for a Constellation-class Frigate.

Aircraft transfers to Central Asia

The bill report says the “agreement provides funding for international security cooperation programs with Central Asian countries to increase border security and counter terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan by utilizing certain aircraft taken out of that country.”

The Biden administration is negotiating with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to transfer some 50 U.S. aircraft in exchange for counter-terrorism cooperation. Afghan pilots affiliated with the previous U.S.-backed government flew these planes out of the country amid the Taliban takeover last year in the wake of the Biden administration’s withdrawal.

The report directs Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to consult with Congress on the costs of transferring these aircraft to the aforementioned Central Asian countries within two months of the bill’s enactment.

The omnibus also provides $8.5 billion to procure 61 F-35 fighter jets and restore another 19. That’s on top of another $2.1 billion to continue modernizing the F-35 program.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

华盛顿——国会周五通过了一项支出法案，为政府提供资金，避免政府停摆。该法案是协议的一部分，其中包括向国防部注入大量资金，预算比 2022 财年水平增加 9%，此外还向乌克兰提供数十亿美元的额外援助。

众议院周五以225票赞成、201票反对通过了1.7万亿美元的综合支出法案，此前参议院周四也以68票赞成、29票反对通过了该法案。预计乔·拜登总统将签署该法案，其中包括为2023财年五角大楼拨款8170亿美元，以及为国防部继续支持乌克兰行动拨款279亿美元。这比拜登今年早些时候提出的7730亿美元国防开支预算大幅增加。

“世界上最强大的军队将获得所需的资金增长，增速将超过通货膨胀率，”参议院少数党领袖、肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔周三表示。“这是一场关乎美国安全、美国军人和美国在世界舞台上利益的辩论。”

该协议包含80亿美元的专项拨款，用于帮助五角大楼应对通货膨胀的影响，其中包括10亿美元的采购相关费用和37亿美元的燃料费用。共和党人和一些中间派民主党人猛烈抨击拜登政府，指责其预算提案低估了通货膨胀率。

该法案使国会自3月份战争爆发以来向五角大楼提供的紧急资金总额达到614亿美元，用于帮助乌克兰抵御俄罗斯的入侵。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基周三在白宫与拜登会晤后，向国会和持怀疑态度的众议院共和党人发表联合讲话，呼吁提供更多援助。

泽连斯基说：“如果我们现在不阻止他们，他们迟早会打击你们的其他盟友。我们的联盟内部不应该有任何禁忌。乌克兰从未要求美国士兵代替我们在我们的土地上作战。我向你们保证，乌克兰士兵完全可以自己操作美国坦克和飞机。”

该综合拨款法案包括 93 亿美元用于乌克兰安全援助计划，该计划允许五角大楼为基辅采购新的武器和装备。

另有119亿美元的乌克兰补充支出将拨给国防部，用于补充美国已根据总统撤军授权从现有库存中向基辅输送的武器。该法案还将拜登2023财年对乌克兰的撤军授权额度提高至145亿美元，允许他继续从美国库存中转移武器。

濒海战斗舰

该法案旨在阻止海军退役濒海战斗舰的努力，国会在本月初通过2023财年国防授权法案时阻止了这一计划。一份随附该综合法案的报告指示海军部长卡洛斯·德尔·托罗在法案生效后一个月内向国会提交一份关于濒海战斗舰的计划。

报告指出：“海军正在研究这些平台的其他用途，包括未来与无人系统的集成。值得注意的是，海军正在采取这些积极措施，充分利用这些耗费纳税人大量资金建造的舰艇。”

这项综合拨款法案为海军购置12艘新舰艇拨款319亿美元，旨在增强海军实力，以在印太地区与中国竞争。其中包括69亿美元用于建造三艘阿利·伯克级驱逐舰，尽管白宫反对采购第三艘该级驱逐舰。

麦康奈尔说：“像中国这样的竞争对手，月复一月，年复一年，都在有条不紊地投入资金和计划，升级和现代化自己的军队。他们不断探索扩大其军事、情报、经济和政治影响力的新途径——间接或直接地威胁着美国军队以及我们的盟友和伙伴的军队。”

此外，该法案还拨款 45 亿美元用于建造两艘弗吉尼亚级快速攻击潜艇，31 亿美元用于建造哥伦比亚级弹道导弹潜艇，31 亿美元用于建造两艘两栖攻击舰，11 亿美元用于建造星座级护卫舰。

飞往中亚的飞机转机

该法案报告称，“该协议为与中亚国家的国际安全合作项目提供资金，以加强边境安全，并利用从阿富汗撤出的某些飞机打击来自阿富汗的恐怖主义威胁。”

拜登政府正与乌兹别克斯坦和塔吉克斯坦谈判，拟移交约50架美国飞机，以换取反恐合作。去年，在拜登政府撤军后，塔利班夺取政权期间，隶属于此前美国支持的阿富汗政府的飞行员将这些飞机驾驶出境。

该报告指示国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀在法案颁布后的两个月内，就将这些飞机移交给上述中亚国家的成本与国会进行磋商。

该综合法案还拨款 85 亿美元用于采购 61 架 F-35 战斗机并修复另外 19 架。此外，还将拨款 21 亿美元用于继续推进 F-35 项目的现代化进程。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。