WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate Armed Services Committee has unanimously approved a defense policy bill that provides $700 billion for the military services in the 2018 fiscal year.
The plan seeks to reverse what the committee describes as a “crisis” in modernizing the armed forces with advanced weapons and support equipment.
The panel calls the defense budget that President Donald Trump sent to Congress last month a “step in the right direction,” but “insufficient to undo the damage of the last six years.” Trump made rebuilding the military services a signature promise during the presidential campaign.
The committee authorizes $10.6 billion for 94 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, two dozen more than Trump requested.
The troops would get a 2.1 percent pay raise under the Senate plan, which is less than the House Armed Services Committee approved. Those and other differences will have to be resolved.
