THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 6, 1996 TAG: 9601060238
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Republican Congressional leaders moved Friday to revive a military pay increase that has been partially blocked by the federal budget impasse and to put a variety of other defense-spending programs, including development of a new attack submarine, back on track.
As partisan infighting continued over the partial government shutdown, the Senate and House of Representatives agreed to a new conference on a defense authorization bill vetoed last month by President Clinton.
Clinton objects to several provisions in the original authorization bill, principally those which could lead to deployment of a ``Star Wars'' national missile defense system.
His original veto message also suggested he has reservations about the sub program, but he withdrew those in a letter this week to Virginia Sen. John W. Warner.
The authorization bill, passed each year, sets policies for spending by the Pentagon. A separate appropriations bill already has cleared the Congress, providing $243 billion for defense during the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
With the appropriations bill passed, the Pentagon has had funds to continue its operations around the world while much of the rest of the government has been shut down since mid-December. A scheduled 2.4 percent military pay hike, along with larger increases in military housing and food allowances, has been limited to 2 percent, however.
The absence of any authorization bill also has at least temporarily taken Newport News Shipbuilding out of the new submarine program. The Navy has $800 million in hand for early work on the new subs - $100 million of which is expected to go to the Peninsula shipyard - but a spokesman said that those accounts have been frozen pending further Congressional action.
Drawing on funds appropriated in 1994, Electric Boat of Groton, Conn., Newport News' only sub-building rival, already has done substantial early design work on the new sub. The $100 million expected to be directed to Newport News this year is intended to help the Virginia yard catch up with its competitor as both yards prepare to compete for sub contracts beginning in 2002.
Warner and Rep. Herbert H. Bateman of Newport News suggested that the new authorization conference could produce a new bill by next week. But Sen. Charles S. Robb, a Democrat, was less optimistic; he said the travel plans of some key members could delay progress for 10 days or longer.
Robb, Warner and Bateman agreed that informal discussions on the shape of a new bill already are well underway. Bateman said he expects it will closely track the original, but without the disputed missile defense provisions. Republicans probably will develop a separate bill on that subject, he said.
The three lawmakers also agreed that the sub program is unlikely to be a subject of dispute in the new conference. Under a deal brokered in the fall, Electric Boat is to build the first sub in the new line, beginning in 1998. Newport News will get the second contract a year later, with the third boat going to Electric Boat in 2000 and the fourth to Newport News in 2001 before the onset of competitive bidding in 2002.
The Navy originally wanted to send the entire program to Electric Boat, which builds only subs, leaving Newport News to continue as its sole supplier of aircraft carriers and a secondary sub builder should one be needed.
But the Peninsula yard waged an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign for the right to compete for the subs. Newport News executives testified that their yard could build the new subs for billions less than could Electric Boat.
The Navy said any savings would be far less than that and argued that the nation needs to maintain two nuclear-capable submarine builders.
KEYWORDS: BUDGET MILITARY PAY MILITARY BUDGET by CNB