Big Budget for Defense Policy Bill !! The Senate passed an annual $612 billion defense policy bill  including extra war funding for the Pentagon that brought a veto threat from the White House. Senators voted 71-25 on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which lays out broad policy requirements for the Defense Department. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), both of whom are running for president, were the only Republicans to vote against the bill.

The bill provides a 2.3 percent pay increase for U.S. servicemen and women and sets up a system so troops would not have to serve for 20 years before getting some retirement money. It also reaffirms a ban against torturing detainees, works to curb cost overruns at the Pentagon, suggests cuts to headquarters’ staffs, provides $3.8 billion for the Afghan security forces and accelerates shipbuilding.

Oppositions

• The White House objects to the bill for what Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday called “herky jerky” budgeting that ignores a need to allocate money for multiyear weapons development programs, for instance.
• The White House also is opposed to provisions that would make it harder for Obama to transfer the remaining 116 detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, so he can make good on his pledge to close the military prison
• Obama objects to the bill because it does not authorize the closing of unneeded U.S. military facilities, prohibits the retirement of the A-10 aircraft that provides close air support for ground troops and forces the administration to provide lethal assistance to Ukrainian forces fighting Russian-backed separatists.