Senate panel authorises defence spending at Trump-requested level
The Senate Armed Services Committee on 11 June approved its mark-up of the Pentagon’s FY2021 defence policy bill, authorising $740 billion for national defence spending — the level requested by the Trump Administration — and including billions for a new Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
The panel (one of four congressional defence committees that oversee military policy and spending) approved $636.4 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and $69 billion for overseas contingency operations.
In addition, the panel gave the green light to $25.9 billion on defense programmes funded by the Department of Energy and more than $8 billion for military construction.
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