Senate passes National Defense Authorization Act, bill heads to President Biden

The U.S. Senate passed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday night.

Both chambers of Congress have passed the bill, and it will now head to President Biden’s desk.

The bill passed by a vote of 83-11, with 60 votes needed for approval.

Among others, the bill would repeal the COVID-19 vaccine for military members, but doesn’t reinstate members of the military who were discharged or had their benefits cut for refusing to get the vaccine.

A provision in the defense spending bill would also allow Ukraine to delay payments on the hundreds of billions of dollar that has been borrowed from the United States and other countries.

In addition to the delay of payments, the bill also increases funding to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative by $50 billion.

The bill also includes funding to support a 2.7 percent pay raise for members of the military and civilians working in the Department of Defense.

This is a developing story.