Posted on: Thursday, October 10, 2002

Deal reached on military budget

By Dan Morgan
Washington Post

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators reached agreement late yesterday on a $355.1 billion defense bill for 2003 that would boost military spending by $35 billion and pay for dozens of new high-tech weapons, warships, fighter planes and helicopters as the nation girds for war.

Final passage of the measure, which could come as early as today, would greatly strengthen President Bush's hand if he decides to use force to bring about his goal of toppling the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, congressional sources said. It also would be a boon to defense contractors, who stand to profit handsomely from the postiSept. 11 defense buildup.

"The cost may seem high," acknowledged Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. "But the president declared a war on terrorism because of a threat to our way of life and freedom. In such a status, you've got to have trained troops and smart weapons ... in place."

Legislation passed yesterday also includes $257 million for military construction projects in Hawai'i.

"These projects will provide hundreds of jobs for Hawai'i's labor force and boost our local construction industry," said Hawai'i Sen. Dan Inouye.

Hawai'i also should benefit from congressional negotiators' addition of $842 million to the president's request for shipbuilding, along with shipyards in Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Bush's top-priority missile defense budget gets $7.38 billion. Within that account, Congress provided $70 million more than the administration requested for the U.S.-Israel ARROW program, which could protect Israel against Scud missiles fired by Iraq. Boeing Corp. is building components of the system in the United States.

Final approval of the massive measure was held up by disagreement over the Senate's demands to add $300 million for the Coast Guard, not a Pentagon agency. House members charged privately that much of the unspecified spending would go to purchases favored by senior members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, such as C-130 aircraft.

Agreement came after Senate negotiators bowed to the House on the matter, sources said.

"It shouldn't be that hard to reach agreement when you have $35 billion (in increased defense allocations) to play around with," cracked Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

Congress, fearing an adverse reaction from voters if it failed to complete a budget for the Pentagon before the election, rushed this week to wrap up the work.

House-Senate negotiators agreed yesterday on a $10.6 billion military construction bill that would provide $835 million more than the administration requested for such projects as barracks construction, family housing, medical facilities and environmental cleanup at former bases.

Domestic departments and programs are faring less well, however. Congress has yet to enact a single domestic spending bill for fiscal 2003, although the new fiscal year began 10 days ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.