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Senate approves $345 billion defense bill
By CAROLYN SKORNECK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate approved its $345 billion defense spending bill without a dissenting vote Tuesday after dispensing with Republican objections that had stymied progress for a week as the nation geared up for war.
The vote was 99-0 for the bill that authorizes money for the Defense Department and the military work of the Energy Department for fiscal 2002, which began Monday.
``The men and women in the military should be able to count on us in normal times, and surely they ought to be able to count on us in these emergency times. And I believe very firmly that this bill does exactly that,'' Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told the Senate.
The $345 billion represents an 11 percent increase, or $34.2 billion, over last year's spending. It includes $8.3 billion for President Bush's prized missile defense program, up $3 billion, although he could spend $1.3 billion of that to fight terrorism.
To deal with terror, Bush requested $5.6 billion, an increase of $1 billion over last year, and the Senate upped the total by $217 million, not including the missile defense money.
The measure also would raise military salaries, increase housing allowances and provide money to streamline the military to meet new threats.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., alluded to some tough negotiations on missile defense and other issues when he said, ``We had some hard decisions to make, and I think that we made them basically together.'' The bipartisan compromises were ``done in a spirit to get this bill up and passed,'' said Armed Services' top Republican.
The only senator who did not vote was 98-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who fainted earlier Tuesday as he sat at his desk on the Senate floor. He was taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Just hours before the Senate endorsed the bill, it voted by a surprising 100-0 to quash delays caused by GOP efforts to attach to the defense measure both the Bush administration's energy package and a separate prison industry provision.
The roadblocks became apparent Sept. 25, as the House passed its $343 billion defense bill by a vote of 398-17, and the demands had not been amenable to compromise.
Levin, D-Mich., said he feared the problems could kill the bill. ``That would be a horrendous message to send'' to the military and the nation, he said.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warned the Senate that it was risking its reputation as well as the bipartisan comity that has marked its efforts since the Sept. 11 suicide hijack attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon outside Washington.
``I'm worried that in a few minutes, the Senate may undo all that good work of the past three weeks, and bring an end to the bipartisan cooperation that has distinguished this institution, and give the public a reason to be ashamed of us,'' McCain said. He called the defense bill ``the most important legislation we will pass since Sept. 11.''
The unanimous vote to bypass the delays, when only 60 votes were needed, came after dozens of Republicans trooped into the chamber from a meeting in the office of Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
``I thought when it finally came down to it, the Republicans would not filibuster a bill of this import in terms of national unity and supporting our forces,'' Levin said.
Levin blamed the delay primarily on the determination by some Republicans to open to oil drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, part of the energy package being pushed by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. The separate issue of prison industries, pushed by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, was resolved with a compromise accepted by voice vote Tuesday.
So sure was Levin of getting the bill done that he was looking ahead to problems likely to arise when House and Senate conferees meet to resolve differences in the two bills.
The biggest problem, he said, will be base closures, even though President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have pushed repeatedly for them.
``It's going to be a very, very difficult effort in the House,'' Levin said. ``We're going to need the president and the secretary of defense to really weigh in on this issue.''
The Democrat-led Senate bill would allow for a round of base closures, in 2003. An independent commission would select the bases to be closed or realigned, and Congress and the president would be able only to accept or reject the entire list.
In contrast, the Republican-led House's bill omitted base closures in an effort to derail the idea, despite the support of the Republican administration.
The Senate's $345 billion measure is $1.3 billion over Bush's request, but the House-Senate conference is expected to limit it to $343 billion.
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The bills are S. 1416 and H.R. 2586.
On the Net: Senate Armed Services Committee: http://www.senate.gov/(tilde)armed—services/
House Armed Services Committee: http://www.house.gov/hasc/