THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120062
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Inviting a veto, the Senate finished work Friday on a defense bill that spends $6.4 billion more on the military than President Clinton requested.
But in a separate move, a bipartisan group of key lawmakers agreed to a compromise designed to develop a national missile defense system without undercutting the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. The Clinton administration has threatened to veto the bill, in part, because of this provision.
The compromise, said Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., protects the momentum toward developing workable defenses for both the nation as a whole and for military forces in the field. It leaves unchanged a provision adding $490 million to Clinton's $3 billion missile defense request. Most of that increase would go toward development of national missile defenses.
``Many people in America, the vast majority, think we already have a system in place,'' Warner said.
Technically, the Senate could not vote on the spending bill because the House has not yet passed its version, but the Senate's official passage in September is considered certain after the House completes its work. A vote on a companion bill that sets policy for the Pentagon, which contained the language related to the ABM treaty, was postponed until after Labor Day.
Passage of the measures is expected to set the stage for a major confrontation over defense issues between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress.
The White House has threatened to veto both measures, arguing that the increases are unwarranted and threaten to undermine the president's goal of achieving a balanced budget.
KEYWORDS: BUDGET DEFENSE SENATE by CNB