President Biden signed a $895 billion defense bill into law, which includes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, funding for a more confrontational approach to China, and investments in new military technologies. However, the bill also contains controversial provisions that ban coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families and prohibits the transfer of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
President Biden signed into law a defense bill on Monday that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China 's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion. Despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families, the bill was passed.
Biden said his administration strongly opposes the provision because it targets a group based on gender identity and interferes with parents’ roles to determine the best care for their children. He said it also undermines the all-volunteer military's ability to recruit and retain talent. The Senate forwarded the bill to Biden after passing it last week by a vote of 85-14. In the House, a majority of Democrats voted against the bill after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted on adding the provision to ban transgender medical care for children. The legislation easily passed by a vote of 281-140. Biden also objected to other language in the bill prohibiting the use of money earmarked to transfer detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.The annual defense authorization bill, which directs Pentagon policy, provides a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others.The legislation also directs resources towards a more confrontational approach to China, including establishing a fund that could be used to send military resources to Taiwan in much the same way that the U.S. has backed Ukraine. It also invests in new military technologies, including artificial intelligence, and bolsters the U.S. production of ammunition. The U.S. has also moved in recent years to ban the military from purchasing Chinese products, and the defense bill extended that with prohibitions on Chinese goods from garlic in military commissaries to drone technology
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