President Biden on Monday signed into law a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families.

President Joe Biden has signed into law an annual defense policy bill that calls for maintaining some 28,500 American troops in South Korea and reaffirming the United States' deterrence commitment to the Asian ally,