House, Senate Reach Compromise on Defense Budget

In a major breakthrough on the defense budget, the House and the Senate agreed today on a compromise plan that would build no more B-2 bombers this year while slashing nearly $2 billion from President Bush’s request for the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The $289-billion military budget blueprint for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 came after nearly three weeks of bargaining and provided $18 billion less than Bush had sought in January.

Among the key provisions are the wholesale cut in “Star Wars”; a worldwide troop cut of 100,000, including 50,000 in Europe, and a significant reduction in Bush’s proposal for land-based nuclear missiles.

The legislation also includes $403 million in research and procurement money for the V-22 Osprey, the tilt-rotor aircraft that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has tried repeatedly to cancel.

Negotiators agreed to spend $2.9 billion on SDI, midway between the Senate’s figure of $3.7 billion and the House’s $2.3 billion. The compromise bill also calls for sharply scaling back the limitations the Senate had sought to impose on the way the Pentagon can spend money on various aspects of SDI.

The compromise reached on the B-2 Stealth bomber allows production of the aircraft to proceed but is silent on future procurement.

“It’s good news, bad news,” said Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a B-2 proponent.

The House earlier adopted a defense bill that stopped production of the radar-evading aircraft at the 15 planes now under construction.

The Senate, in its legislation, approved the Administration’s request for $5.1 billion this fiscal year to buy two planes, for a total of 17, plus spare parts in the next fiscal year.

The compromise calls for $4.1 billion for the Stealth program, including $1.8 billion for research and development on the aircraft and $2.3 billion for procurement.

In July, Air Force Secretary Donald B. Rice told the House Armed Services Committee that the service needs $1.4 billion to acquire two B-2s on schedule. Rice said that without the money, acquisition of the two bombers would have to be delayed until 1997.

Both the House and Senate must approve the package before it reaches the President.