SENATE PANEL REJECTS FUNDING FOR B-2; IF OK'D ON FLOOR, BILL COULD SET UP FIGHT WITH HOUSE.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services A defense bill passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee The term Armed Services Committee could refer to:
The defense bill, approved Thursday by the panel after a week of discussions, now goes to the Senate floor. If the B-2 ban passes the full Senate, it sets up a conflict with the House, where a proposal to budget $350 million toward keeping B-2 production lines open has gone to the House floor. ``This is going to help the Department of Defense to meet its modernization modernization Transformation of a society from a rural and agrarian condition to a secular, urban, and industrial one. It is closely linked with industrialization. As societies modernize, the individual becomes increasingly important, gradually replacing the family, goals without diverting procurement funds to expensive programs that they don't need and don't want,'' Sen. Carl Levin Carl Milton Levin (born June 28, 1934) is a Democratic United States Senator from Michigan and is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He has been in the Senate since 1979 and Michigan's senior senator since 1995. of Michigan, the committee's leading Democrat, said of the B-2 ban. The Senate panel also narrowly rejected authorization for two further rounds of base closings in 1999 and 2000. But after the closed-door vote, four senators said they would continue to push for more closings. ``This is going to be one of the major issues on the floor,'' Levin said. ``We are going to renew our effort to have two additional rounds'' of base closings. Levin said Sens. John McCain For McCain's grandfather and father, see John S. McCain, Sr. and John S. McCain, Jr., respectively John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936 in Panama Canal Zone) is an American politician, war veteran, and currently the Republican Senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. , R-Ariz., Dan Coats, R-Ind., and Charles Robb, D-Va., joined in supporting an amendment to continue the closings. The Pentagon has closed or is preparing to close 97 major domestic bases by 2001, and a few weeks ago it announced it will ask Congress to authorize To empower another with the legal right to perform an action. The Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. authorize v. to officially empower someone to act. (See: authority) two more rounds of base closings, beginning in 1999. The rationale: Post-Cold War troop levels have shrunk shrunk v. A past tense and a past participle of shrink. shrunk Verb a past tense and past participle of shrink shrunk, shrunken shrink , so fewer bases are needed. In a letter to the committee, the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged further cuts in the base structure, saying a continuing review of defense requirements anticipated a reduction in manpower of 36 percent. In contrast, the Cold War base structure had been reduced only by a quarter, tying up money needed for equipment modernization. ``If we're serious about having funds for modernization . . . you've got to then reduce the excess infrastructure,'' Levin told reporters. The House National Security Committee approved $350 million Thursday to keep the stealth bomber production line in Palmdale open. The funding, sought as part of a plan to build at least nine more bombers, was approved as part of the committee's 1998 Defense Authorization Bill. A vote by the full House could come within two or three weeks. But B-2 supporters expect opposition. U.S. Rep. Ron Dellums Ronald Vernie (Ron) Dellums (born November 24, 1935), U.S. Democratic Party politician, is the mayor of the City of Oakland, California. He was a U.S. Representative from California from 1971 until his resignation on February 6, 1998 and following that, a lobbyist until his , D-Oakland, has said he will offer an amendment to strike the B-2 funding, said Armando Azarloza, an aide to U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. ``He promised Buck a floor fight over this,'' Azarloza said. If B-2 money survives in the House but the Senate keeps the ban, the conflict must be worked out by a conference committee comprised of representatives from each chamber. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour AV edition only) The Senate and House may be on a collision course collision course n. A course, as of moving objects or opposing philosophies, that will end in a collision or conflict if left unchanged: two planes on a collision course; dissidents on a collision course with the regime. on B-2 funding. |
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