The Senate Armed Services Committee wrapped up work Thursday on the fiscal 2000 defense authorization bill, but not before Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a senior member of the panel, stormed out of the committee's closed door markup session a day earlier, LEGI-SLATE News Service reported.
McCain left in a huff after the committee voted down his proposals to let the defense secretary close more bases and buy foreign-made weapons if they were cheaper than American ones, sources said.
Sources added that Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., did not fare much better when he tried to convince colleagues to authorize just one more base closing round rather than the two McCain advocated.
McCain, a candidate for the 2000 GOP presidential nomination, long has argued that the only way the Pentagon will have enough money to buy new ships and aircraft, as well continue to play the expensive role of world policeman, is to find big savings somewhere.
Closing surplus bases and allowing the defense secretary to waive the Buy American Act to buy military goods at bargain prices would free up the needed billions, McCain contended.
Political and economic opponents combined to defeat both amendments Wednesday. McCain's base closing amendment went down 12-8 in the closed door session, according to participants.
His amendment to liberalize the Buy America law went down 12- 6, sources said.
After the voting, sources said, an angry McCain left Wednesday's closed session and boycotted Thursday's.
Levin's salvage effort to authorize one round of base closings was defeated 9-1, sources said.
The committee's base closing votes were big defeats for President Clinton and Defense Secretary Cohen as well as for McCain and Levin. Clinton and Cohen have said they need the multibillion dollar savings from closing bases to modernize the armed services.
As for McCain's other proposal, his Buy America Act liberalization was torpedoed by textile manufacturers and shipbuilders who feared losing Pentagon business to foreign companies, according to congressional sources.
Senate observers believed McCain had won over Armed Services Chairman Warner on the Buy America amendment, even though Newport News Shipbuilding is a giant employer in Warner's state. But Warner ended up voting against the Buy America waiver authority, sources said.
An unexpected amendment designed to force the executive branch to keep close track of China's progress in strategic weapons was offered by Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., and adopted by the committee.
Warner had tried to keep a tight lid on the deliberations of his committee during his first effort as chairman to draft a defense authorization bill. He is scheduled to hold a news conference this morning to discuss the committee's actions.
NEXT STORY: GOP leaders upset by supplemental bill