|
|
With America’s outdated infrastructure rotting, as homeless fill the streets, as the plantation workers of Slavelandia can’t make ends meet, live paycheck-to-paycheck and are getting bashed by inflation, their “Representatives” voted in mass to further enrich their masters of war.
The House of Representatives voted on Thursday in favor of an $850.3 billion national security budget that members say will help the U.S. respond to continued threats and surging inflation.
The Senate will take a vote on its own National Defense Authorization Act and the two bodies will eventually hash out a bill that can be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. It should be noted that the Senate’s bill costs $8.2 billion more than the House’s.
The House voted 329-101 in favor of the bill, which includes $100 million to provide training to Ukrainian pilots and ground crews on how to work with American aircraft, Air Force magazine reported. The report said the Biden administration has thus far refused Ukrainian requests for F-16s.
The bill calls for another $1 billion to arm Ukraine. The U.S. has already sent Ukraine $54 billion in military, economic, and humanitarian aid. The Pentagon has sent the country an additional $7 billion worth of weapons from its own stockpile.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., issued a press release after the vote praising his colleagues for their “thoughtful contributions” and support of the bill.
“There’s a lot to be proud of in this bill, and the stakes for our country’s national security could not be higher,” he wrote.
The Trends Journal has reported for years how the U.S. spends more money on its military than the next nine nations, many of whom are allies. (See “MILITARY SPENDING INCREASES AS ECONOMIES DECLINE,” “BUILDING UP THE MILITARY AS THE PEOPLE GO BROKE” and “WARMONGERS INC: WHILE 61 PERCENT OF AMERICANS LIVE PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK, CONGRESS SENDS $13.6 BILLION FOR UKRAINE WAR.”)
The House passed the bill in a 329-101 vote. The “no” votes included 62 Republicans and 39 Democrats. The bill calls for 13 new battle force ships, which is five more than the Navy requested. USNI News reported that the bill also authorizes the purchase of 64 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, Marines, and Navy. It also calls for eight additional Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. About $45 million will be earmarked for a new, nuclear-capable cruise missile that is capable of being launched from submarines or ships.
Politico said there were some disagreements between the body and Biden about what projects deserve priority. The bill, as it stands, would prevent Biden from sending Turkey new F-16s unless the administration can prove that the transfers are in the U.S.’s national interest, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Reps. Ted Lieu and Ro Khanna, both California Democrats, forced a Saudi amendment that calls on a probe into the arms that the U.S. provided Riyadh during its conflict with Yemen.
AntiWar.com, citing Amnesty International, reported that the Saudi coalition used a U.S.-made precision-guided missile to strike a migrant detention center earlier this year that resulted in 91 deaths.
TRENDPOST: Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., took to Twitter after the vote and listed three key reasons he voted against the massive bill. He said it spends “$850 billion” that the U.S. does not have, “prioritizes radical ‘woke ideology’ over combat readiness,” and “terminates service members for not getting the COVID-19 jab.”
The bill does not mention Biden’s current COVID-19 vaccine mandate and does not address the border crisis with Mexico, the House Freedom Caucus said.
“This bill does nothing to end Biden’s vaccine mandate, which is an intentional purge of thousands of our best and bravest troops. As the NDAA refuses to protect our troops from Biden’s vax mandate, it also further entrenches our nation in unwise foreign policy blunders,” Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., tweeted.
“The bill allocates an additional $1 billion to Ukraine with no accountability measures and offers Congressional support for permanently stationing troops in Poland,” he said. “With inflation skyrocketing to 9.1% at home, and ICE quite literally running out of money to defend our southern border, we should not be spending additional taxpayer money to further involve ourselves with foreign misadventures.”
TREND FORECAST: The more the U.S. and its NATO allies ramp up their war with Russia, as we have reported, so too are the military budgets. The Trends Journal has reported for years how the U.S. spends more money on its military than the next nine nations, many of whom are allies. (See “MILITARY SPENDING INCREASES AS ECONOMIES DECLINE,” “BUILDING UP THE MILITARY AS THE PEOPLE GO BROKE” and “WARMONGERS INC: WHILE 61 PERCENT OF AMERICANS LIVE PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK, CONGRESS SENDS $13.6 BILLION FOR UKRAINE WAR.”)