Senate panel backs 3.9 percent military pay raise

The Senate Armed Services Committee completed work Wednesday on its fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill, approving a measure that fully funds the Army's centerpiece transformation program and gives troops a larger pay raise than requested by President Bush, Senate aides said.

The brief full committee markup, which occurred behind closed doors, did not address many controversial issues such as the Iraq war. Debate on those issues is expected to occur when the measure heads to the floor.

Indeed, aides said there were few points of disagreement among panel members during negotiations, which had been expected to extend through Thursday.

As they have done in the past, the Senate panel approved the Army's $3.9 billion request for the eventual $160 billion Future Combat Systems, lining up a potential battle with their counterparts in the House who have traditionally made dramatic cuts in the program.

They also approved a 3.9 percent pay raise for military personnel -- half a percent higher than requested by the Bush administration and slightly higher than the 3.5 percent pay raise in fiscal 2008, aides said.

Meanwhile, the bill does not include any additional funding for C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes, a favorite of congressional add-ons. The Boeing aircraft is produced in more than 40 states and is nearing the end of its production.

The Senate panel also rejected the Pentagon's efforts to increase Tricare healthcare fees, once again blocking the department's efforts to rein in its escalating healthcare costs.

The panel also once again chose to keep alive a development program for a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, aides said.

The decision puts the committee at odds with Air Force officials who have repeatedly tried to cancel plans for an alternate engine because they view it as an unnecessary expense.

The engine program, which cost $480 million in fiscal 2008, was included in the portion of the bill marked up by the panel led by Armed Services Airland Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., despite his long-standing concern about its cost.

Lieberman would not disclose details of the markup or confirm whether his panel authorized a specific funding level for the engine program.

Connecticut is home to United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney unit, the primary engine manufacturer for the international fighter program. General Electric Co. and the British firm Rolls Royce are building the second engine.

The Pentagon has said that canceling the second engine program would save $1.8 billion over the next five years. But Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and others have argued that an engine competition -- the first for a fighter jet since the 1980s -- would ultimately drive down costs.

Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., has said he hopes the bill will come to the floor before the Memorial Day recess.