THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070326
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940607 LENGTH: WASHINGTON
Robb's office announced that he has won over Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of a Senate Armed Services subcommittee that will begin consideration of the carrier project tonight. Kennedy had been skeptical about the need for the ship. ``Senator Robb has made a solid case. . . and the Pentagon agrees,'' said Jim Manley, Kennedy's deputy press secretary.
{REST} Despite his conversion, Kennedy will not include $3.6 billion for the ship, designated CVN-76, in a draft defense authorization bill that will serve as the starting point for the subcommittee's work. But Robb and Kennedy staff members said the Massachusetts senator has agreed to back a Robb amendment adding the project to the bill. ``I feel confident that a majority of the subcommittee members will join in that support,'' Robb said in a prepared statement.
The full committee is to consider the bill later this week.
Manley disputed a suggestion that Kennedy left the carrier out of his draft to let Robb get some favorable publicity in the days before Virginia's June 14 Democratic primary.
The carrier, which has the backing of the Clinton administration, is the largest single piece of hardware in the Pentagon's proposed 1995 spending plan. The House already has signaled its willingness to fully fund the carrier.
CVN-76 is to be built at Newport News Shipbuilding and is said by officials of the company to be critical to the shipyard's survival.
{KEYWORDS} CARRIER FUNDING
by CNB