Though lawmakers avoided a partial government shutdown set to start Saturday, the extension of the current continuing resolution is sure to frustrate agencies like the Pentagon whose spending is locked at fiscal year 2023 levels.
For months Beijing boycotted military discussions, raising fears at the Pentagon that a miscommunication could lead to conflict.
The declaration comes as Congress put a hold on any spending in fiscal year 2024 on a new SPACECOM headquarters building in Colorado Spring, Colo., pending a DoD IQ investigation into President Joe Biden's decision to keep the HQ there.
The $886 billion policy bill will go to President Joe Biden's desk for final signature, but final passage of the annual spending bills remains unclear.
"Right now, of course, the secretary of defense does not have a counterpart; there is no [Chinese] minister of defense. We're going to have to probably wait on that one," NSC official Sarah Beran said.
President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will only hold general discussions about AUKUS today, administration officials told reporters.
In an Oval Office address, the president said the money, reportedly over $100 billion, is "going to pay dividends for American security for generations."
Amid the political clash and a lawmaker's call for yet another investigation, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall revealed that he and SPACECOM leader Gen. Jim Dickinson also disagreed over where the new HQ should be.
Advancements in joint military exercises as well as efforts to counter missile threats from North Korea came out of the Camp David meetings.
The three countries will also invest in a new hotline to make communication between governments faster and easier.
The Defense Department in particular has been keen to build up military space ties with its allies and partners in Asia in the face of China's rapid buildup of its own space capabilities, including the development of technologies that could hold US and allied space assets at risk in a regional conflict.
"The most significant factor the President considered was the impact a move would have to operational readiness to confront space-enabled threats during a critical time in this dynamic security environment," a senior administration told Breaking Defense in a statement.
If confirmed, Coker will fill a critical role left open months after the departure of Chris Inglis, who was appointed as the first-ever national cyber director in 2021.
Though the delay does not fundamentally threaten Sweden’s membership, it could raise concerns among NATO partners that Turkey will use it as a bargaining chip to elicit new political or military concessions.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said that when he meets US President Joe Biden today, he will “raise” a request for long range weapon supplies, though did not mention any weapon specifically.