WASHINGTON - The US Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise version of an annual defence policy bill on Thursday without controversial provisions such as requiring women to register for the draft or allowing contractors to make religion-based hiring decisions.
Ninety-two senators backed the $618.7 billion National Defence Authorization Act, or NDAA, and seven opposed it. Because it passed the House of Representatives by a similarly large margin last week, the bill now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to veto or sign into law.
However, the NDAA passed both chambers in the Republican-led Congress with margins large enough to overcome a veto, and the compromise legislation features many provisions such as a raise for US forces and an expansion of a landmark human rights bill, that are extremely popular in Congress.
After months of negotiation, the Senate and House Armed Services committees unveiled a compromise version of the NDAA last month that left out the Russell Amendment, a "religious freedom" measure that Democrats said would have let federal contractors discriminate against workers on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, overturning an executive order by Obama.
Some House Republicans said they hoped to revisit that provision after Republican President Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and they do not have to worry about a veto threat from a Democratic White House.
The bill also excluded a provision that would have required women to register for the military draft, now that Pentagon leaders are moving to allow them into combat.