Washington: Hours after US President Barack Obama withdrew his veto threat, the House of Representatives approved a massive USD 670 billion defence spending bill that freezes nearly USD 700 million in aid to Pakistan until it shows progress in stemming the flow of IEDs into Afghanistan.
As part of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2012 passed by the Republican-led chamber by 283-136 on Wednesday, the lawmakers also okayed slapping of harsher sanctions on Iran and supported indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists.
The NDAA 2012 freezes nearly USD 700 million in aid to Pakistan pending the delivery of a strategy by the Department of Defence for improving the effectiveness of such assistance and assurances that Pakistan is countering Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) networks and stemming their flows into Afghanistan, a Congressional aide said.
“This freeze includes the majority of the USD 1.1 billion in Pakistan Counter-insurgency Fund,” the House Armed Services Committee had said in a statement early this week.
Earlier the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate had reached an agreement on the annual defence authorisation bill.
The bill, which sets policy and spending priorities for the Pentagon, is generally considered must-pass legislation.
A State Department spokesman said this in no way means that there is cut in aid to Pakistan.
“We will work with the Pakistanis to meet the requirements,” a senior administration official said and asserted that the US has not “cut” assistance to Pakistan.
The House vote came after the White House said that Obama will not veto the bill as it was satisfied with the changes made in it. (PTI)