Eyeing China’s rise as a global military and economic power, lawmakers unveiled a compromise defense policy bill Thursday that targets China on multiple fronts, with $6.9 billion prescribed for a new Pacific Deterrence Initiative over two years.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said he believes President Donald Trump would veto the bill but warned it “would be a huge political mistake.”
U.S. Army officials told lawmakers Tuesday they are seeking a new 15-year, $16 billion strategy to modernize and automate the military’s aging munitions plants following nearly a dozen worker deaths and injuries over recent years.
A planned House hearing comes in the wake of a series of explosions and fires that have killed and injured nearly a dozen workers at munition plants in recent years and led to a previously unreported investigation by the House Armed Services Committee.
The House’s forthcoming NDAA may include a billion-dollar pandemic response and preparedness fund, in part to boost domestic production of medical equipment, like ventilators and face masks.
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