Shrugging off the threat of a veto by President Obama, the Republican-controlled House voted Friday to approve a nearly $643 billion military spending bill that exceeds the spending limit set by last year's Budget Control Act.
The House voted 299 to 120 to approve the legislation, with nearly all of the Republican lawmakers voting in favor of the bill along with 77 Democrats.
The bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, includes a base defense budget of $554 billion along with $88.5 billion for the war in Afghanistan.
The level of spending exceeds the cap set by the Budget Control Act by $8 billion and is $4 billion above the president's budget request.
Additionally, the legislation includes some controversial measures such as the approval of the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists and a ban on same-sex marriage ceremonies on U.S. military bases.
The bill also requires the construction of a missile defense site on the East Coast despite Pentagon arguments that the facility is unnecessary.
House GOP leaders prevented a vote on an amendment requiring the Obama administration to stick to the proposed timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan amid concerns that it might pass.
However, the legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate, which is controlled by the Democrats, and Obama has vowed to veto the bill in its current form.
The vote on the bill comes after House Republicans approved legislation last week that would shift some of the automatic cuts in defense spending triggered by the failure of the Super Committee to social programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.