WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a compromise 738-billion-U.S.-dollar defense policy bill that would create the Space Force, a new U.S. military branch, and give federal workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2020 will also increase U.S. defense spending by about 20 billion dollars, or about 2.8 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he will sign the policy bill.
The annual legislation was passed in a 377-48 vote in the House, two days after negotiators from the Democrat-led House and the Republican-led Senate released an agreement on it. Six Republicans and 41 Democrats voted "no."
Many "no" votes came from progressive Democrats upset after several of their priorities were removed from the legislation, according to The Hill news.
The original House bill would have blocked Trump from tapping Pentagon funds for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, his signature presidential campaign promise during the 2016 U.S. elections. However, negotiators finally decided to leave border wall questions to the ongoing appropriations process, said the report.
The legislation would grant all federal workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave for the first time, which many people see as a major win for the Democrats.
Meanwhile, in a win for Trump and Republican lawmakers, the bill would establish the Space Force, which would be housed in the Department of the Air Force and led by the chief of space operations, who would report directly to the Secretary of the Air Force and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The final bill removed a series of Democratic proposals, including language to reverse Trump's transgender military ban, block Trump from taking military action against Iran, end all U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, block the deployment of the low-yield nuclear warhead and ban new transfers to the highly controversial Guantanamo Bay detention center.
The House, the Senate and the White House have negotiated for the final bill for months.
"This was not an easy process," Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith said before the Wednesday vote.
"We have a divided government. We have a Republican president, a Republican Senate and Democratic House who do not agree on a lot of issues, and those are the issues that tend to get focused on," said Smith. "But what this conference report reflects for the most part is that we do agree on a lot."
"All of our priorities have made it into the final NDAA: Pay Raise for our Troops, Rebuilding our Military, Paid Parental Leave, Border Security, and Space Force! Congress -- don't delay this anymore! I will sign this historic defense legislation immediately!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
The final version of the NDAA is "a near complete capitulation" in checking the Trump administration's military policies, a coalition of 31 liberal organizations representing disarmament, human rights and other causes said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Congress is expected to send the compromise legislation to the White House as soon as this week, according to local media reports.
The NDAA remains one of the few authorization bills that Congress passes year after year.
