On Thursday, the US Senate passed the draft defence budget for the next year. However, its final approval is expected to face challenges in the House of Representatives.

As reported by Reuters, the Senate, controlled by Democrats, passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, by 86 to 11, with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans.

The fiscal 2024 NDAA, which authorizes a record $886 billion in spending, is one of the few major bills Congress passes every year. It governs everything from pay raises for the troops – this year's will be 5.2% – to purchases of ships and aircraft to policies such as support for Ukraine.

The NDAA has passed every year since 1961, usually with strong bipartisan support. But this year, the Republican-controlled House passed its version of the bill by a narrow 219-210 majority, after hard-right Republicans added amendments addressing hot-button social issues such as a repeal of a Pentagon policy of reimbursing expenses for service members who travel to obtain an abortion.

The Senate's Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said the hard-right provisions in the House bill would not become law. Democrats control only a narrow 51-49 seat majority in the Senate, but senators from both parties have said they do not want social issues to stand in the way of the defense bill becoming law.

The Senate passed dozens of its own amendments, including some addressing competition with China.

"What's happening in the Senate is a stark contrast to the partisan race to the bottom we saw in the House, where House Republicans are pushing partisan legislation that has zero chance of passing," Schumer said.

This year's NDAA is several steps from becoming law.

Now that both the House and Senate bills have passed, members will hammer out a compromise, which in turn must pass both chambers before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign or veto.

On July 15, the House of Representatives voted for the US defence budget for 2024, which includes $300 million in support of Ukraine's security.

The $300 million in support of Ukraine is the amount requested by the Biden administration, but it is $500 million less than what was agreed upon last year. In the previous year's US defence budget, Ukraine was allocated $800 million. Congress increased the amount by $300 million, as proposed by the administration.