The U.S. Senate approved on Friday the Pentagon budget for the current fiscal year in the amount of $633 billion, an amount relatively close to the total requested by President Barack Obama, according to AFP. The military spending bill passed 315 – 107 Thursday in the House and 81 – 14 yesterday in the Senate.
The law authorizing the defense budget for fiscal year 2013, which began on October 1, received 81 votes for and 14 against. A result of negotiations between the House and Senate, the law is to be promulgated by the U.S. President.
Besides the usual expenses for military operation, it requires a tightening of economic sanctions against Iran, releasing additional funds to finance the war in Afghanistan and the deployment of additional U.S. missions worldwide.
A month ago, the White House threatened to exercise its veto right because of several articles restricting certain decisions of the President. Among them, a measure to extend by another year the ban on U.S. government to transfer Guantanamo detainees abroad, a situation that prevents their repatriation or release.
The heterogeneous law also includes a ban on U.S. government to detain, without being indicted, U.S. citizens or permanent residents charged with terrorism and arrested on the national territory. This safeguard does not apply to aliens who are not in possession of a Green Card. The next step is for the President Obama to sign the bill, considered a formality.
The document released funds to finance additional missions with the aim to protect foreign embassies and diplomatic complexes as a reaction to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi (Libya), September 11, 2012.
Friday’s vote, after the approval Thursday in the House of Representatives, marks a rare example of cooperation between the two parties. Democrats and Republicans are engaged in negotiations to reduce the deficit over the next 10 years and have only 10 days left to reach a compromise and avoid the “fiscal cliff”.
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