Senate Passes
$612 bln Defense Spending Bill
By Jim Wolf
18/09/08 --- - WASHINGTON (Reuters)
- The U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a
$612.5 billion defense spending bill for fiscal 2009, including
$70 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
PUBLICIDAD
As passed on an 88-8 vote, the measure would authorize $103.9
billion for Pentagon procurement, $1.2 billion more than
President George W. Bush's request. Overall, Bush had asked for
$611.1 billion for national defense.
The bill shifts more of the costs of Iraq's reconstruction onto
Baghdad. It also puts further restrictions on contractors
working in Iraq, including prohibitions on interrogations and
the performance of "inherently governmental functions" in
combat.
The measure must now be reconciled with the $612.5 billion
version passed by the House of Representatives on May 22.
The Senate bill would let the Pentagon spend $70 billion in Iraq
and Afghanistan in the fiscal year that starts October 1 and
authorize a 3.9 percent pay raise for military personnel, half a
percentage point more than sought by Bush.
House and Senate negotiators are due to meet next week on a
compromise version that can be sent to Bush for signing into
law.
Among sticking points is the Boeing Co-led Future Combat
Systems, the centerpiece of Army modernization. The House cut
$200 million from the $3.6 billion requested to continue
development of a $160 billion system of digitally linked
vehicles for air and ground combat.
The Senate approved without major change the Bush administration
request for Future Combat Systems. SAIC Inc is Boeing's co-lead
manager on the FCS program.
The Senate bill would authorize $8.9 billion for Missile Defense
Agency programs, $411.8 million less than Bush's request.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Eric Walsh)Click on
"comments" below to read or post comments
Comment
Guidelines
Be succinct, constructive and
relevant to the story.
We encourage engaging, diverse and meaningful commentary.
Do not include personal information such as names, addresses,
phone numbers and emails. Comments falling outside our
guidelines – those including personal attacks and profanity –
are not permitted.
See our complete
Comment
Policy and use this link
to notify us if you have concerns about a
comment. We’ll promptly
review and remove any inappropriate postings.
Send Page To a Friend
In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed without profit to those
who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and
educational purposes. Information Clearing House
has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator
of this article nor is Information ClearingHouse
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
|
