US House approves$642b defence bill

Washington: Ignoring a White House veto threat, the Republican-controlled House approved a $642 billion (Dh2.4 trillion) defence budget on Friday that breaks a deficit-cutting deal with President Barack Obama and restricts his authority in an election-year challenge to the Democratic commander in chief.

The House voted 299-120 for the fiscal 2013 spending blueprint that authorises money for weapons, aircraft, ships and the war in Afghanistan — $8 billion more than Obama and congressional Republicans agreed to last summer in the clamour for fiscal austerity.

Short shelf life

Insisting they are stronger on defence than the president, Republicans crafted a bill that calls for construction of a missile defence site on the East Coast that the military opposes, bars reductions in the nation's nuclear arsenal and reaffirms the indefinite detention without trial of suspected terrorists, even US citizens captured on American soil.

The GOP provisions will have a short shelf life, as the Democratic-controlled Senate is likely to scrap many of them and stick to the spending level in the deficit-cutting agreement.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta met privately last week with senators to argue for the president's proposed budget, a blueprint the Pentagon says is based on a new military strategy focused on Asia, the Middle East and cyberspace as the nation emerges from two long wars. The Senate Armed Services Committee crafts its version of the budget next week.

The House bill is not only a political salvo against Obama, but a reflection of the stranglehold the defence industry has on Congress. Weapons, aircraft carriers and jets mean jobs, and lawmakers are loath to cut funds for the military, the biggest government programme outside Medicare and Social Security.

In a political shot on the House floor, Republican Howard McKeon, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, accused Democrats of "taking all of the jobs out of the military".

Base budget

For the endless Washington talk of dealing with the nation's debilitating debt, the bill outlines a base defence budget of $554 billion, including nuclear weapons spending, plus $88 billion for the war in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism efforts.

Conservative and tea party Republicans prevailed on a series of amendments Friday, even dealing a blow to the business community and GOP establishment on one measure. Reviving Cold War arguments, they rejected the notion that Senate ratification of an arms control treaty with Russia in December 2010 has long been settled and that the president has the authority to enforce the pact.