Senate Panel Votes to Cut ‘Star Wars’ Funds
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to cut spending for “Star Wars” anti-missile research as it approved a Pentagon budget bill for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
The bill, sent to the Senate on a voice vote, provides most of the $295 billion earmarked earlier this year by the Senate in a budget resolution, a figure far below President Reagan’s request of a $320-billion total defense budget.
Spending for the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars” plan, was the chief controversy Tuesday as the panel worked through the bill.
The bill originally would have appropriated $4.8 billion next year for “Star Wars,” the full amount of Reagan’s request. But the panel cut the figure to $3.4 billion.
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