By IANS,
Washington : The US House of Representatives Thursday passed next year’s massive $607-billion defence bill.
The Republican-controlled House approved the measure in a 326-90 vote, after two days of debate and several amendments, Xinhua reported.
The bill increases Pentagon base funding by about $1 billion over the 2012 levels, to $519 billion, but cut war funding by $27 billion, to about $88.5 billion.
The House version of the Pentagon budget has to be reconciled with the Senate version before it could be presented to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The Democratic-controlled Senate has made clear its opposition to the House bill, saying it broke a spending deal reached last year.
The House bill is $3 billion above the Pentagon’s request, and $8 billion above the spending caps in last year’s Budget Control Act.
The Senate is unlikely to take up the bill until August.
Even if the Senate passes the bill, the White House has vowed to veto it in its current form.
Except for breaking the spending cap, the House bill also restored weapons programs Pentagon sought to terminate, and blocked cuts the Pentagon sought to make.