THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010378
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Newport News Shipbuilding on Tuesday moved another step closer to securing a share of the Navy's submarine business, as House and Senate subcommittees agreed to add more than $500 million to the 1997 defense budget for a sub that will be built at the local yard.
A Navy bid to secure start-up funds for construction of another new aircraft carrier, also to be built by Newport News, apparently was unsuccessful, however.
In separate, closed-door meetings, the procurement subcommittee of the House National Security Committee and the seapower subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee recommended that the sub money be added to the Clinton administration's proposed 1997 budget, sources said.
The funds will go for the purchase of a nuclear reactor and other ``long lead'' items for an attack sub to be built by Newport News beginning in 1999.
Those items must be funded in 1997 to keep the project on schedule.
The full committees are to begin their work on the defense bill today. The full committees generally accede to subcommittee recommendations.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE BUDGET SHIPBUILDING by CNB