DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150349

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A15  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   71 lines

CLINTON TO SIGN $268 BILLION DEFENSE BILL, OFFICIALS SAY THE FUNDS WILL ALLOW AN EARLY START ON A NEW CARRIER TO BE BUILT IN NEWPORT NEWS.

President Clinton will sign a $268 billion defense authorization bill, congressional and administration officials said Friday, clearing the way for the Pentagon to reshuffle its budget to permit an early start on a new aircraft carrier to be constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding.

The White House decision, which apparently will be announced formally today, pumps new life into a shipyard plan to trim up to $600 million from the final cost of the carrier by investing about $345 million next year in pre-construction items.

White House spokesman Barry Toiv declined to comment, saying, ``We are not prepared to announce a decision . . . at this particular moment.'' But a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed Friday that Clinton would sign the bill.

The carrier, now designated only as CVN-77, is to be built beginning in 2002. It will cost about $5 billion in all and will be the 10th and last ship in the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered flattops.

Newport News currently is working on one carrier, the Ronald Reagan, which is to be delivered around 2002; the Nimitz will enter the yard next year for a major overhaul. But shipyard officials had warned that without funds for their ``smart buy'' program for CVN-77, some carrier workers might have to be laid off in 1998.

Congress appropriated only $50 billion for the carrier, as the ship program got caught in House-Senate crossfire over funds for another expensive weapons system, the B-2 ``stealth'' bomber.

The authorization bill, which Congress uses to provide guidance over how the Pentagon spends its budget, does not contain any additional funds for the carrier. But the Navy and Virginia lawmakers secured legislative language that will permit the Pentagon to shift money from other accounts into the carrier program.

Navy officials have acknowledged that they're searching for sources for additional carrier money, but so far none have been announced.

While the bill may secure jobs in Hampton Roads, by signing it Clinton will effectively be abandoning a promise to save jobs at Air Force bases being closed in Texas and California.

Clinton is expected to announce his decision today during an appearance at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento. That huge Air Force repair facility, along with the sprawling Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, was ordered closed by the 1995 base closure commission.

With the 1996 election approaching, Clinton proposed to save thousands of jobs at the bases by turning them over to civilian operators. But lawmakers in states with military repair facilities that stood to gain jobs from the two closing bases objected. They were joined by others who accused Clinton of politicizing the base-closing process.

The bill that Clinton now apparently will sign contains language that critics say would hamper private contractors' ability to compete for the work.

Clinton planned to cushion the blow of announcing his decision by unveiling economic aid packages that will help San Antonio and Sacramento, the senior administration official said.

White House officials sent word to Capitol Hill that Clinton had decided to sign the measure within a few days instead of following through with an earlier veto threat, congressional staffers said.

``President Clinton's decision to abandon his veto threat comes as a disappointment but certainly not as a surprise,'' said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. ``But while the president's resolve has evaporated, mine has not.''

Defenders of Kelly and McClellan fought for months to strip out of the bill provisions that would chill plans to privatize work at their bases, slated to close in 2001. At stake are some 5,000 jobs at Kelly and 2,300 at McClellan.

While administration officials objected to language relating to the depots, the bill contains many provisions Clinton favors, including funds for new F-22 ``Raptor'' fighters for the Air Force and FA-18E/F ``Super Hornets'' for the Navy. It also provides a 2.8 percent pay raise for military personnel.

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