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The US Senate and House of Representatives passed on Thursday their own versions of a US$400.5 billion defense authorization bill for 2004, up 4.7 percent from the military spending for current fiscal year.
The House voted 361-68 to approve its version of the bill after the Senate voted 98-1 to approve its version. The two chambers need to reconcile their bills before sending the legislation to President George W. Bush for signing.
Both bills provide more than US$70 billion for weapons purchases and US$9.1 billion for development and deployment of a missile defense system.
The legislation also provides an average 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel and increases money for homeland security.
The overwhelming approval was widely expected since both Republicans and Democrats supported more defense spending in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Much of the debate was therefore on sideline issues such as closing of more military bases and reorganization of civilian workers at the Pentagon.
The House voted 226-199 to defeat an amendment by Democratic Representative Ellen Tauscher that would have taken funds from research on a new "bunker-busting" tactical nuclear weapon and other low-yield nuclear weapons, and used the money to study conventional weapons capable of penetrating deeply buried targets.
The White House, which has pressed for the lifting of the research and development ban, said the House bill did not go far enough because it only allowed research on the weapons.
The Senate voted on Wednesday to require the president to seek congressional authorization before developing low-yield nuclear weapons as it lifted a decade-old ban on the research and development of such weapons.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2003)
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