House panel set to move on Defense spending bill

The House Appropriations Committee has scheduled a subcommittee markup for the fiscal 2003 Defense appropriations bill Wednesday morning.

House Republican leaders and President Bush have pressured appropriators for weeks to make the Defense bill the first major appropriations bill to move out of the gate, and the panel, after approving a $10 billion 2003 Military Construction spending bill in subcommittee last week, plans to do just that.

However, the markup could be complicated and is likely to drag out because the fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriations bill, which includes money for defense, is still unfinished.

In addition, the Office of Management and Budget has yet to give the committee a formal request for a $10 billion defense contingency fund, which OMB Director Mitch Daniels said last week he intended to release to help appropriators write an acceptable defense measure.