House Approves $252-Billion Defense Bill : Spending: The measure would provide about $9 billion less than President Bush requested. It now moves to the Senate.

The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to appropriate $252 billion for defense spending in fiscal 1993--about $9 billion less than President Bush requested but enough to continue many of his more controversial aircraft procurement programs.

The bill, approved 328 to 94, now goes to the Senate, which is expected to complete its own version by September. A House-Senate conference committee then will hammer out a compromise.

Despite the high funding levels, the White House warned Thursday that Bush might veto the bill anyway because of language in the legislation that would allow military physicians to perform abortions in cases where a mother’s life is not in danger.

The measure also contains a provision that would slash the Navy’s headquarters staff by 10,000 more active-duty positions than the Administration proposed--a move to prod the service into reforms following the Tailhook Assn. sexual harassment scandal.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) has hinted that the cutback could be lifted if the Navy takes sufficient steps to remedy the situation by the time the bill goes to a House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between differing versions of the legislation.

The approval Thursday came after lawmakers narrowly defeated an effort by liberals to cut $700 million from the Strategic Defense Initiative, known informally as the “Star Wars” program. The vote was 217 to 201.

Lawmakers also turned aside--on a vote of 173 to 248--an attempt to delete funding for four more B-2 bombers, the radar-evading plane manufactured by the California-based Northrop Corp. The order--expected to be the final one in the B-2 program--will cost almost $4 billion.

The massive legislation, though initially expected to establish the broad parameters for the post-Cold War military, actually put most of the critical decisions about medium-term force structure off until fiscal 1994 and 1995.

Part of the lawmakers’ reluctance to go further was a growing concern about the impact that steeper defense-spending cuts might have on unemployment in defense-related industries, particularly during a sluggish recovery.

Some members also began to have second thoughts about how much the United States can afford to slash its defense capability--despite the reduced threat resulting from the demise of the Soviet Union--in the face of instability in Eastern Europe and the Third World.

Although the appropriation fell $9 billion short of what Bush had requested, it continued sizable support for many of the major aircraft programs that the Pentagon wants and provided more than Bush requested for the F/A-18 fighter and construction of more fast cargo ships.

The lawmakers also provided another $755 million for development of the controversial V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft, despite repeated assertions by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney that the plane is too expensive and unnecessary.

Responding to criticisms from Congress that the Administration was improperly impounding money that it had earmarked for the Osprey, Cheney agreed Thursday to free an estimated $790 million in earlier appropriations for the V-22 that he had refused to spend.

He continued to express reservations, however, about whether the V-22 is needed.

While the Administration won most of what it requested for aircraft procurement, however, the Pentagon lost its bid to cut National Guard and reserve forces sharply this year. The measure provides for more than 1 million reserve positions, 66,150 more than Bush is seeking.

The House also approved some $700 million worth of smaller-scale reductions that would force the Pentagon to pare back its inventories and restrict the use of outside consulting services.

The cutbacks in the money to support the Navy’s headquarters staff reflected anger by many lawmakers over the way the service has handled the Tailhook Assn. sexual harassment scandal.

At least 26 women--half of them naval officers--said that they were pushed through a gantlet of drunken aviators at the Las Vegas hotel where the Navy-supported convention was being held, and one female officer’s complaint to an admiral was dismissed as inconsequential.

Navy investigators attempting to investigate the complaints said that the male officers who attended the convention apparently closed ranks and refused to provide information about the incident. The Defense Department inspector general’s office has reopened the inquiry.

However, it was clear that most lawmakers wanted to use the cutback as a prod, rather than a punishment. Rep. Romano L. Mazzoli (D-Ky.) conceded that the move “may be an undifferentiated penalty, but I think (it) will have the intended result.”

The Senate version of the defense appropriations bill is expected to provide close to what Bush requested for military spending next year. The measure covers fiscal 1993, which begins Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30, 1993.