House Passes Defense Bill

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON ð— The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly passed a $441.6 billion fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, which includes $7.8 billion for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and funding for studying a new nuclear weapons capability.

The bill contains no major nuclear weapons or missile defense-related amendments to the version passed by the House Armed Services Committee last week (see GSN, May 19).

The Missile Defense Agency budget, in the bill, took nearly a $1 billion reduction from what it had planned for the next fiscal year — part of a budget reduction plan announced by the Pentagon in December that followed a quiet budget increase (see GSN, April 22).

The Bush administration’s plans for additional interceptor missiles for its Ground-based Midcourse Defense system were partially approved, with money authorized for 10 additional missiles to be fielded in 2006 and 2007, but for only five of 10 requested for fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009. 

In addition, $100 million was authorized for an additional flight-intercept test of that system “as soon as practicable.”

The legislation authorizes $4 million for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program, to resume a major feasibility study stopped by Congress last year. The study would be moved to the Air Force from the Energy Department. It also includes $4.5 million to fund a study on deploying such a weapon on B-2 stealth bombers.

The Senate version of the bill does not include money for the latter study and authorizes $4 million for the Energy Department to resume the feasibility study.

The House bill also authorizes $9.4 million for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, an effort to design long-lasting nuclear warheads without the need to conduct explosive nuclear tests. The administration had requested $9.3 million.  House appropriators this month approved $25 million for that program (see GSN, May 25). 

The total amount authorized by bill was $19.5 billion above what was approved by Congress for the current fiscal year. In addition to approving the regular Pentagon budget, the bill authorizes $49.1 billion in “supplemental” appropriations, principally for Defense Department spending on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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