Senate unlikely to bow on Defense authorization legislation

With the fiscal 2004 defense authorization conference drawing to a close, congressional observers said Senate conferees expect the Defense Department to back a compromise on Air Force tanker refueling aircraft offered last week by Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Pentagon support for the controversial tanker proposal is likely to undermine House support for the Air Force's original plan to lease 100 Boeing 767 aircraft in an effort to replace their aging fleet of KC-135 tankers.

It also could leave House conferees with less room to negotiate other key issues in the conference, observers said, particularly on "Buy American" language included in House and Senate versions of the bill.

Although House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., reportedly is seeking some changes to a recent Office of Management and Budget proposal that would gut much of the industrial protection legislation included in his version of the bill, the Senate is likely to insist on passing the OMB compromise as it stands.

However, top government officials in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands who recently reviewed the OMB draft are expected this week to express concerns, and could even recommend a presidential veto of the bill if it includes any of the OMB language.