US Congress Approves $700 Billion Defense Budget

WASHINGTON, (Patria) - The US Congress on Thursday approved nearly $700 billion for defense in the 2018 fiscal year, more than Donald Trump requested.

The Senate finally passed the bill unanimously on Thursday, after the House of Representatives did so on Tuesday. The US President, who promised to "rebuild" the armed forces, still needs to sign it for it to take effect.

The amount is about 15 percent higher than for 2016, which was entirely Barack Obama's year, and $26 billion more than the budget requested by the White House, an increase of almost 4 percent.

Faced with the threat of North Korean ballistic missiles, US lawmakers also approved an exceptional increase - by about 50 percent - in the budget of the Missile Defense Agency, which grows from $8.2 billion to $12.3 billion to finance dozens of new interceptors.

The new budget will finance the purchase of new military equipment, including 90 new F35 fighter jets (twenty more than Trump requested), dozens of helicopters, new tanks and armored vehicles, and 14 new ships and submarines (five more than requested).

Soldiers' salaries will increase by 2.4 percent.

Ukraine will receive $350 million in security assistance. Israel will receive $705 million for its missile defense system.

The law applies to the 2018 fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2017.