President Biden signed a defense bill into law on Monday that authorizes significant pay increases for junior enlisted service members, aimed at countering China's growing power and expanding access to transgender medical treatment for children in the military. Despite his objections to setting aside coverage, total military spending is to increase to $895 billion. Family.
Mr. Biden said his administration strongly opposes the provision because it targets a group based on gender identity and “interferes with parents’ roles in determining the best care for their children.” He said it also weakens the all-volunteer military's ability to recruit and retain talent.
“No service member should have to decide between their family's health care access and the call to serve our country.” The President said in a statement,
The Senate sent the bill to Mr Biden after it passed it by an 85-14 vote last week. In the House, most Democrats voted against the bill after House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed to add a provision banning transgender medical care for children. This law was easily passed by a vote of 281-140.
Mr Biden also objected to other language in the bill barring the use of funds earmarked to transfer detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to certain foreign countries and the United States. He urged Congress to lift those restrictions.
The annual defense authorization bill, which guides Pentagon policy, provides for a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% raise for others.
The legislation directs resources toward a more confrontational approach toward China, including establishing a fund that could be used to send military resources to Taiwan in the same way the US has supported Ukraine. It also invests in new military technologies, including artificial intelligence, and boosts US production of ammunition.
The US has also moved in recent years to ban the military from purchasing Chinese products, and the defense bill expanded restrictions on Chinese goods ranging from garlic to drone technology to military commissaries.
The legislation must still be supported with a spending package.