“Whatever our troops need to get the job done, they should get it, and the House has acted to provide just that,” Boehner’s statement read, following the House passage of the NDAA.
The House speaker specified that the bill “increases troop pay and benefits, reinforces the mission to defeat ISIL [Islamic State], imposes greater restrictions on transferring terrorists, strengthens our cyber defenses, provides lethal aid to Ukraine, boosts our missile defense capabilities.”
Earlier on Friday, the House passed the 2016 NDAA 269 to 151 despite US President Barack Obama’s threat to veto the bill on Tuesday.
The Obama administration and Democrats have expressed strong objection to the bill arguing that it fails to authorize sufficient funding for the US military’s priorities and instead uses much needed funds from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
“With all the threats our troops face and the sacrifices they make, Democrats’ opposition to this defense bill is in fact indefensible,” Boehner stressed.
On May 1, the House Armed Services Committee passed the NDAA to fund the country’s military in 2016. The bill would prevent funds from being used for transportation of US Guantanamo Bay prison detainees and approves some $200 million in lethal military assistance to Ukraine.
The US Senate has now to agree on the bill before it goes up for the approval of President Obama.
