Congress Approves Bill for Missile Defense System

The House gave final congressional approval Thursday to legislation that would commit the United States to a national missile defense system.

President Clinton was expected to sign the measure, which the Senate had modified after administration objections.

The legislation, passed 345 to 71, states that it is the policy of the United States to deploy, as soon as technologically possible, an effective system capable of defending U.S. territory against limited ballistic missile attack.

It also states that negotiations with Russia on arms reductions will continue. Russia has opposed construction of a U.S. missile defense system, saying it violates the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

The administration has said it would not decide until June 2000 on firm plans for an anti-missile system.

Clinton vetoed similar legislation in 1995. He also opposed an earlier House version passed in March, saying it did not make clear that the defense system would be limited and focused against threats from rogue states rather than existing nuclear powers.

The Senate changed the bill to reflect those concerns, and the House agreed to the revised version Thursday, despite some reluctance by supporters of the original House plan.

The administration has budgeted $10.5 billion for 1999 to 2005 to develop a limited national missile defense system. It became more agreeable to the eventual deployment of such a system after North Korea last year tested missiles that flew over Japan.

The system envisioned is a scaled-back version of the space-based Strategic Defense Initiative, also called “Star Wars,” proposed by President Reagan in 1983.

Reagan’s plan was aimed mainly at stopping an attack from the former Soviet Union, while current research is designed more to stop a limited attack from a rogue or terrorist state. It would not be based in space.