WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed into law the annual defense policy bill, which includes a provision pressuring the Pentagon to release footage of U.S. strikes targeting alleged drug boats near Venezuela.
Under the provision, a quarter of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget will be withheld until the Pentagon provides Congress with unedited footage of the strikes.
The measure follows mounting pressure in Congress on Hegseth to disclose the original video after it was revealed that two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a targeted vessel were killed in a subsequent strike following an initial attack on Sept. 2.
The provision is part of the 901-billion-U.S.-dollar National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which is roughly 8 billion dollars more than what the Trump administration had requested.
The more than 3,000-page defense bill includes a nearly 4 percent military pay raise, an overhaul aimed at speeding up Pentagon arms purchases, as well as measures to develop the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense system and promote military readiness.
Under the bill, the Trump administration allots 400 million dollars annually for two years to produce weapons for Ukraine and puts limits on reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe and South Korea without allied consultations.
The measure also authorizes 26 billion dollars for shipbuilding, 38 billion dollars for aircraft and 25 billion dollars to ramp up munitions production.
The legislation eliminates Pentagon DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) offices, cuts 1.6 billion dollars in climate-related spending, repeals the 1991 and 2002 Iraq War authorizations and permanently lifts U.S. sanctions on Syria.
The Senate approved the measure in a vote of 77 to 20 on Wednesday, one week after the House advanced it with a 312-112 vote. ■
