On Monday, President Biden signed the massive $777.7 billion 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law.
The bill authorizes $740.3 billion for the Pentagon, $27.8 billion for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons program, and $9.9 billion for “Defense-related Activities Outside NDAA Jurisdiction.” Many media outlets are reporting the NDAA as a $768 billion bill, ignoring the additional $9.9 billion.
Biden initially requested $753 billion for the NDAA, but Congress decided to add another $25 billion. The push to increase the NDAA was led by hawkish Republicans who argued that more spending was needed to confront China, but the effort ultimately received bipartisan support.
With China being the Pentagon’s main focus, a good portion of the spending bill will go towards the research, development, testing, and evaluation for new weapons technology, known as RDT&E. The NDAA authorizes over $117 billion for RDT&E, which will be used to develop hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, space and cyber capabilities, and other advanced weaponry.
The NDAA includes $7.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), another China-related measure. US military leaders requested the PDI to build up forces in the Asia Pacific to further encircle China. Part of the plan includes establishing a network of long-range missiles near China’s coast.
The NDAA passage comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Russia around Ukraine, and the spending bill includes $300 million in military aid for Kyiv.
An earlier House version of the NDAA included an amendment from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) that would have required the US to end support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, but it was stripped in the compromise version. An amendment requiring women to register from the draft was also removed from the final NDAA.
Meanwhile, China pulls away from us economically, as well as their infrastructure. China is well on its way to creating another Silk Road. Ironic that they are still making a lot of products for our corporations.
Like almost all products,,the writing is on the wall and it is profane.
I’m thinking if the billions had been subtracted from the original $753 billion, Biden would have vetoed it. Should piss him off as much for the additions and should also result in a veto. Just practicing my stand-up act.
With the allegedly insane Ted Kaczynski in the hospital and the allegedly sane Joe Biden in the White House, the latter has approved a deficit quadrupling NDAA that includes millions in funding for Artificial Intelligence, including fully autonomous drones. The plot thickens.
And no mention of UAP/UFO crafts flying in our airspace with impunity and disabling, enabling,, our Nukes, as well as Russia’s,,hmmmm….
The question few if any are asking as to what happened to those “savings” from terminating the billions being drained from the Afghan disaster. Never mind, congress will just increase the “defense” (sic) budget to compensate for those “savings.”