Senate passes defense bill Obama threatened to veto

The US Senate has passed an annual $612 billion military spending bill which includes additional war funding for the Defense Department, despite a veto threat from the White House.

In a 71-25 vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday, Republicans, who hold a majority of seats in the Senate, passed the bill, although many democrats opposed the legislation.

"There is one overarching problem that remains with this bill. The problem is that this bill is funded through the OCO accounts in a significant way," Sen. Reed (R.I.), the lead Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said ahead of the vote.

However, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he disapproved of the extra war budget. "I think there's a lot of my colleagues who want to fight this once rather than twice."

The bill has been heavily criticized by Democrats for including an extra $38 billion in funds through the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, which is the Pentagon's war fund.

In order for the bill to become a law, it must first be reconciled with a version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives in May. Then, President Barack Obama should sign it into law.

However, the White House has threatened to veto the bill over several issues, including the plan by Republicans to use $38 in order to allow the Department of Defense to avoid obligatory spending caps.

"If this bill were presented to the President, the President’s senior advisors would recommend to the President that he veto it," according to a statement from the White House's Office of Management and Budget.

In addition, the White House opposes the bill as it would make it somewhat impossible to close the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

The White House also contends that Congress should increase non-defense budget in line with raising military funding.

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