President Joe Biden signed into law the U.S. Defense Policy Act on Friday, which approves a record $886 billion in annual military spending. As Reuters notes, this also includes aid to Ukraine, countering China in the Indo-Pacific and other initiatives.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed by Congress last week. It is one of the few major pieces of legislation that Congress passes each year, regulating everything from pay raises for military personnel to the purchase of ships and aircraft, as well as policies to support foreign partners like Taiwan.
The initiative calls for a 5.2 percent pay raise for the military and an increase in the country’s overall national security budget by about 3 percent, to $886 billion. In addition, it lists certain Chinese battery companies, which the law indicates are not eligible to participate in military procurement.
The law also extends aid measures to Ukraine by allocating $300 million from the U.S. budget. The money is supposed to be used for the production of weapons to be sent to Ukraine, not for direct deliveries from the U.S. arms stockpile. However, this amount is extremely small compared to the $61 billion requested by US President Joe Biden in October. He sent a request to Congress for $106 billion in funding for arms and other aid to Ukraine and Israel, but the proposal was not supported, mainly because of Republican opposition.
