The Senate on Wednesday voted 88-11 to pass the $770 billion National Defense Authorization Act for the 2022 fiscal year. The figure is $24 billion more than what President Joe Biden had asked for and is a 5% increase from the 2021 budget.

The annual military budget has been steadily increasing virtually every year since 1960. The U.S. continues to spend more money on its military than the next 11 countries combined, with the majority of them being allies, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Anti-war activists slammed the decision to raise military spending.

"Congress must resist the demands of the military-industrial complex, and instead heed calls to invest taxpayer dollars into true human needs like supporting global COVID-19 vaccine production, expanding healthcare access and funding climate justice initiatives," said Savannah Wooten, campaign coordinator for #PeopleOverPentagon.

Wooten added the effort to expand the budget was “shameful, unjustifiable and embarrassing."

The bill is set to include a 2.7% pay increase for military members, $300 million to aid the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative, $13.3 billion for military construction jobs, $27.3 billion for shipbuilding, creation of a 16-member commission to study the Afghanistan war, and overhaul the military justice system by removing commanding officers' authority to make prosecutorial decisions about 11 crimes including sexual assault and murder.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., voted against the legislation saying the efforts to reform the military justice system did not go far enough.

“The military justice reforms in this year’s NDAA fall short of creating a truly independent military justice system, which is what survivors, service members and veterans have asked for,” Gillibrand said in a statement following the vote.

Provisions that were left out of the bill included an amendment repealing the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq and requiring women to sign up for selective service. No amendments were added to the bill once it was brought to the floor in both chambers of Congress.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., voiced his support for the defense bill saying it makes “great progress” and that "it addresses a broad range of pressing issues from the strategic competition with China and Russia, to disruptive technologies like hypersonics, A.I. and quantum computing, to modernizing our ships, aircraft and vehicles.”

The legislation passed the House earlier this month and is expected to be signed into law by Biden.

The 11 senators who voted against the bill included three Republicans: Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Along with Gillibrand, the other six Democrats who voted against the bill were Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkely of Oregon, Alex Padilla of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont also voted "nay." Republican Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming didn't vote.

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