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Friday, May 18, 2012

Damn The Veto: House OKs $642B defense



The House on Friday ignored a presidential veto threat and passed a $642 billion defense bill that abandons the deficit-cutting agreement that President Obama and congressional Republicans backed last summer.
On a 299-120 vote, lawmakers backed the spending blueprint that adds $8 billion for the military for next year. The bill calls for a missile defense site on the East Coast that the military opposes and restricts the ability of the president to reduce the arsenal of nuclear weapons under a 2010 treaty with Russia. It also preserves ships and aircraft that the Pentagon wanted to retire in a cost-cutting move.
Lawmakers also rejected the military's request for another round of domestic base closings. The White House has threatened a veto, as Republicans made wholesale changes in Obama's budget proposal.
Earlier Friday, the House reaffirmed the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, even of U.S. citizens captured on American soil.
A coalition of Democrats and tea party Republicans fell short in their effort to end the controversial policy established last year and based on the post-Sept. 11 authorization for the use of military force that allows indefinite detention of enemy combatants.
The House rejected an amendment by Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Justin Amash, R-Mich., that would have barred indefinite detention and rolled back mandatory military custody. The vote was 238-182.
"The frightening thing here is that the government is claiming the power under the Afghanistan authorization for use of military force as a justification for entering American homes to grab people, indefinitely detain them and not give them a charge or trial," Amash said during hours of House debate.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/18/house-oks-642-billion-defense-bill-eds/#ixzz1vFPmElLA