President Joe Biden signed a defense bill into law that authorizes pay raises for junior enlisted service members, boosts military spending to $895 billion, and aims to counter China’s growing power. Despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families, Biden emphasized that no service member should have to choose between their family’s health care access and their call to serve the nation.
The bill, passed by the Senate with a vote of 85-14 and the House with a vote of 281-140, includes a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% raise for others. It also includes provisions to fund a more confrontational approach to China, invest in new military technologies like artificial intelligence, and bolster U.S. production of ammunition. The legislation prohibits the use of funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to certain foreign countries and bans the military from purchasing Chinese products.
Biden urged Congress to lift restrictions on transferring detainees and criticized the provision targeting transgender medical care for children. The bill still requires a spending package to be implemented fully.
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