On Thursday, President Barack Obama vetoed the $612 billion National Defense Authorization Act, the law that funds the Pentagon for the 2016 fiscal year. Nestled among the long list of defense and foreign policy projects funded by the bill is the European Reassurance Initiative, which — as its name suggests — signals the United States' renewed commitment to reassure NATO members that Washington will help preserve their territorial integrity, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where fears of Russian aggressiveness run high.
"This bill fails to authorize funding for our national defense in a fiscally responsible manner," the president's veto message to the House of Representatives said. "It underfunds our military in the base budget, and instead relies on an irresponsible budget gimmick that has been criticized by members of both parties. Specifically, the bill's use of $38 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding — which was meant to fund wars and is not subject to budget caps — does not provide the stable, multi-year budget upon which sound defense planning depends."