Senators voted 86-8 on Tuesday to pass the USD 738 billion defence policy bill, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
The Senate vote came after the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act was last week passed by the US House of Representatives.
According to the Washington Post, the National Defense Authorization Act sets out priorities for the Pentagon and funding targets for programmes; it also authorises sanctions aimed at pipe-laying ships involved in Russia’s construction of the new gas pipeline to Europe under the Baltic Sea.
The Nord Stream 2 gas link is an energy project strongly criticised by both Poland and the United States amid concerns that the pipeline will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.
Once up and running, the 1,200-kilometre link is expected to have the capacity to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called Nord Stream 2 “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the EU and NATO.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP