Senate Defense bill likely to follow Bush plan

The Senate Armed Services Committee wrapped up work Thursday on its proposed fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, which participants said is likely to be in line with the $401.7 billion requested by the Bush administration.

"We'll provide a bill pretty close to what the Department of Defense requested," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., during a break in the marathon, closed-door meeting.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and others said they thought differences over the procurement of F/A-22 Raptor fighter jets would be worked out to their satisfaction. Cornyn said he thought the committee would allow for 24Â F/A-22s to be built, despite indications earlier this week that members might favor cutting the order back to 22 jets to free up roughly $300 million in funds for other needs.

The Bush administration has asked for nearly $4.2 billion in procurement funds for 24 aircraft.

Going into Thursday's full committee markup, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a vociferous supporter of the F/A-22, had said he intended to offer an amendment to ensure sufficient procurement funding to buy 24 planes.

On another front, Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., was expected to offer an amendment to allow the Army to increase the number of troops during "periods of high tempo," according to a committee aide, although the measure would not lock the Army into a permanent increase.

Critics of President Bush's plan to deploy a national missile defense system this year may have offered amendments to slow spending on the system, but committee members offered few details.

When asked about missile defense, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he wants to "make sure we got a system that works" before the federal government invests more money on it.

The committee is not expected to include a $25 billion funding request from the White House for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the authorization bill because it "came too late," according to a committee aide.

But when asked about it later in the day, Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., was not ruling it out. Levin said he expected the committee to hold a hearing after the White House sends up its formal request.

"We should not give [the White House] a blank check for $25 billion," Levin said, adding that he wants to ensure there is "specificity" and "accountability" for the money.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would not reveal details of the legislation related to the Air Force's plan to acquire Boeing 767 refueling tankers, but said "we've got good language" on the issue.