Senate passes FY-18 defense policy bill

The full Senate passed the fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill Monday evening by an 89-8 vote.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said in a statement that recent fatalities during military training exercises "are evidence of an overworked, strained force. Congress can no longer delay in delivering our men and women in uniform the resources and equipment they need and deserve."

McCain called the bill "the first step, but now we must get to work on appropriating the vital, additional funding we have just authorized. That will take the hard work of negotiating a bipartisan budget agreement. We owe it to our service members to do just that."

The House passed its version of the defense policy bill last week. Negotiators from both chambers will soon meet to hammer out a conference version of the legislation.