WASHINGTON: Despite President Barack Obama’s threat to veto the annual policy measure over issues including a ban on closing the Guantanamo military prison, the United States Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to pass a $602 billion defense authorization bill which has also proposed a new imbursement mechanism for Pakistan to expedite security enhancement activities in Khyber Pakhtukhwa province and the FATA region. The vote was 85 to13, far more than the majority needed to pass the 100-member Senate. Now the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) must be reconciled with one the House of Representatives passed last month before it can be sent to Obama. Obama gave a long list of objections to the current versions of the bill, including provisions making it more difficult to close the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba and the use of funds specially designated for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to allow the military to avoid mandatory spending limits. This poses the Bill a veto threat. The provision pertaining to Pakistan is called “Pakistan Security Enhancement Authorization” and authorizes $800 million for the country. It also fences $300 million behind a similar Haqqani network provision. The Senate Armed Services Committee has used the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) model to restructure security support for Pakistan on the basis that it believes CSF mechanism may soon be ending as it was linked with a specific US mission in Afghanistan which has formally ended. The new authorization is founded on the need to support Pakistan for its own security needs instead of a broader basis for supporting a coalition. This is not a new provision as similar provisions existed in the Annual Defence Authorization Act since fiscal year 2015. The bill authorizes military spending for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The proposal for Pakistan was passed as originally initiated. None of the over 400 amendments considered by the Senate targeted this outlay for Pakistan. After the vote, Republican Senator and chair of the Armed Services Committee John McCain said that he was disappointed it did not include a program that would have helped Afghans who worked for American troops to move to the US. “They are the number one target for the Taliban and for ISIS (Islamic State),” McCain said in the Senate after the bill passed without an amendment extending the program to provide Special Immigrant Visas for interpreters and others who worked for US forces. The bill would also require young women to register for the military draft, as the Department of Defense is opening all of the military, including combat roles, to females. A few socially conservative senators voted against the measure because of that provision. The committee wrote in its report that security and stability within the borders of Pakistan is vital to the stability of the region and to transregional efforts to combat terrorism more broadly. Noting with concern that terrorist attacks continue to plague Pakistan, the committee strongly supported efforts by the Pakistan government to take steps to degrade and defeat terrorist networks and activities within its own borders. “For these reasons, the committee believes that security assistance for Pakistan should continue,” the committee report said. The bill passed after lawmakers reached a compromise on the use of Russian RD-180 rocket engines. Worried about the possibility that it could drive United Launch alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, out of business and leave only privately held SpaceX to lift satellites into space, lawmakers eased a ban on their use late last year. An amendment from Republican Senator Cory Gardner and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson gave the Pentagon time to develop and test a replacement for the Russian-made engines and limits their use for launches. McCain, who is a harsh critic of Russia’s government, tried to stop the use of the RD-180 in order to send a message to President Vladimir Putin.