After a surprisingly short debate, the Senate Tuesday by a 94- 4 vote passed a $247 billion FY98 Defense appropriations bill, pushing through extra spending for a new war ship, but warning the Clinton administration about the cost of overseas deployments.
In contrast to past years, the bill makes only modest changes in President Clinton's request, a $3.2 billion increase, with all of the added money devoted to weapons purchases, the Associated Press reported.
The spending bill is $3.1 billion more than this year's defense spending level. The House version of the bill is awaiting floor action.
Included in the bill is $1.9 billion to pay for U.S. troop deployments in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf region. But Senate Appropriations Chairman Stevens warned the administration about the cost of overseas deployments and the failure of the Pentagon to consult Congress on these costs.
"The committee will not hesitate to reduce the funding available to the department and severely limit the department's spending and flexibility unless further progress is made in this area," Stevens declared.
He added: "Military officers in command in the field cannot obligate our nation to long-term overseas expenditures or deployments. ... That is what is increasing the defense budget, decisions made in the field without proper knowledge being transmitted to Congress."
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate in a voice vote added to the bill a provision requiring the Pentagon to report by Oct. 1 the costs U.S. taxpayers will bear for the addition of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to NATO and any other associated costs.
Meanwhile, reflecting the priority of key senators, the bill focused its increases on Navy shipbuilding.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, won approval of a $345 million increase for advance funding of a new aircraft carrier.
And Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., negotiated a deal with a former colleague, now-Defense Secretary Cohen, to add a fourth Aegis-class destroyer to the budget. The ship would be built in Lott's hometown of Pascagoula, Miss.
The deal represents a victory for Cohen's home state of Maine: Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, stood to lose a destroyer contract if Lott insisted on extra work for his home state.
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