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.
