The Senate is on track to pass a defense policy bill that pumps $700 billion into the Pentagon budget, expands U.S. missile defenses in response to North Korea's growing hostility and refuses to allow excess military bases to be closed. The bill helps him honor a pledge to boost military spending by tens of billions of dollars. The White House, in a statement issued earlier this month, called the order for more interceptors "premature" given the Pentagon's ongoing review of missile defense programs. Congress would have to roll back a 2011 law that set strict limits on military spending. As their House counterparts did, the Senate bill rejects Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' plan to launch a new round of base closings starting in 2021.

Source: ABC News September 18, 2017 07:52 UTC