THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300221
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $243.6 billion defense spending plan for 1995 that includes a 2.6 percent pay raise for the military and funding for a $2.3 billion aircraft carrier to be built at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The bill is $3.5 billion higher than this year's defense budget, not counting inflation. Nonetheless, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, its chief architect, called it a bare-bones measure.
``This bill will buy only 17 combat aircraft. This year the Army will buy no tanks - unheard of. This year the Navy will buy four ships,'' Inouye said. ``We are staving off the collapse of the defense industrial base.''
The bill shores up the so-called readiness aspects of the defense budget, which include funds to pay for day-to-day operations, military salaries, and training.
Inouye, who chairs the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said those costs, and the costs of closing down military bases worldwide, are eating into weapons procurement.
The spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 is $821 million below President Clinton's request and $55 million above the defense appropriations bill approved by the House. Once the measure wins approval in the full Senate, lawmakers from both houses will work out differences in a conference committee.
The bill provides $2 billion for six C-17 transport planes, $2.7 billion for three Aegis guided missile destroyers, and $2.3 billion for a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be built in Newport News. It also includes $150 million to keep B-2 Stealth bomber suppliers going and keep alive the option of buying in later years more than the 20 B-2s already on order.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE BUDGET AIRCRAFT CARRIER PROPOSED by CNB