From Reuters via Mercury Mail newslist today. But we can't afford welfare,
housing, unemployment, healthcare, etc., etc.

- DDeBar

U.S. Senate passes $268 billion defense bill


            By Joanne Kenen
            WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Senate Friday passed a $268
billion defense bill, handing the White House the flexibility it
sought on Bosnia peacekeeping but withholding its approval for
another round of base closings.
            The Senate worked on the bill for nearly a month, but
overcame the biggest disagreements to pass it easily by a 94-4
vote.
            ``There's generally a desire to have a bipartisan approach
to security policy,'' said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the
senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
    Both the House and Senate defense bills for fiscal 1998
authorize $268 billion in spending, about $6.6 billion more than
the Clinton administration sought in its budget. The bills are
about $3 billion more than the 1997 budget.
            However, the Senate and House defense bills have some major
differences that must be reconciled.
    The biggest disputes are over Bosnia and the B-2 bomber, and
administration officials have said they will recommend that
President  Clinton veto a final bill if the House positions
prevail.
    The House voted to authorize spending on nine more B-2
stealth bombers, which the Pentagon did not want and the Senate
explicitly rejected.
            And the House voted to cut off funds for U.S. ground troops
in Bosnia next June 30. The Senate instead adopted a resolution
strongly urging but not requiring Clinton to get the
peacekeeping troops out by then.
            The Senate also urged western European allies to prepare to
take the brunt of responsibility for any force needed after that
date, although it left open the possibility of U.S. military and
logistic support without ground troops.
    Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John
Shalikashvili and Defense Secretary William Cohen wrote the
Senate, ``A fixed withdrawal date will constrict U.S.
commander's flexibility, encourage our opponents and undermine
the important psychological advantage U.S. troops enjoy.''
            Democrats tried to pare back some of the money in excess of
the president's budget request, for instance on a space-based
laser defense system, but Armed Services chairman Sen. Strom
Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican, said, ``Defense needs
every dollar we have here.''
            The Senate bill raises military pay by 2.8 percent,
generally accepts Cohen's goals on post-Cold War troop
reduction, and meets most Pentagon weapons programs requests.
    Both bills keep the ban on abortions at overseas military
hospitals, and do not authorize another round of base closings
which the Pentagon said were necessary to streamline the
military and save money.
         ^REUTER@