US Congress Approves $636 Billion Military Budget

Source: PressTV

The US Congress has sent President Barack Obama a massive annual military spending bill, part of which is to be used to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a rare weekend vote on Saturday, the Senate approved the $636.3 billion package, which cleared the House of Representatives 395-34 on Wednesday, by an 88-10 margin.

In addition, Obama is expected to send Congress an emergency spending measure of at least $30 billion early next year to pay for his recently announced decision to send 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

The bill includes $80 million to acquire more unmanned Predator drones for the US air war in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

With little public debate in the United States, the pace of the drone bombing attacks has steadily increased, starting last year during ex-president George W. Bush's final months in office.

US drone attacks have killed about 625 people in Pakistan alone over the past 15 months.

The civilian casualties in the attacks and the perceived violation of sovereignty have caused a dramatic rise in anti-US sentiment in Pakistan.

The new military spending bill includes $101.1 billion for operations and maintenance and military personnel requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan and for the planned withdrawal of all US combat forces from Iraq by August 2010.

The package also funds the purchase of 6,600 new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles configured to better resist improvised explosive devices — roadside bombs used to deadly effect by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.