Talks on finalizing Defense spending bill put off

Appropriators have resolved most of their differences in the fiscal 2006 Defense appropriations bill during closed-door meetings but have not set a meeting to craft the final conference report, leaving Defense funding issues unresolved nearly two months into the new fiscal year.

With lawmakers expected to leave soon for Thanksgiving, it appears likely the talks will be shelved until after the recess, much to the consternation of Pentagon officials, who are concerned military accounts will run dry.

The House Thursday extended its continuing resolution to Dec. 17, buying both the military and Congress some time to resolve the spending bill.

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla., and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, both said the CR will free up emergency funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military needs roughly $50 billion to cover operations through early spring 2006.

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member John Murtha, D-Pa., Thursday shot down speculation that conference talks have been stalled by House leaders because of White House opposition to a Senate amendment that bans torture and inhumane treatment of military prisoners and other detainees.

Rather, Murtha said, the issue is House leaders want to use the must-pass Defense bill as a vehicle for 1 percent across-the-board discretionary spending cuts and other legislation.

But the Senate amendment on torture, sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., remains an obstacle to a conference agreement, although McCain predicted this week he will prevail.

The amendment passed last month by a 90-9 vote, despite veto threats from the White House. With McCain generating a broad base of public support for his amendment, White House officials have not publicly renewed those threats this week.

Young said he does not have issues with the language banning torture in McCain's amendment, but he disagrees with language that requires the military to publish interrogation standards in the Army Field Manual.

"I don't think that you tell a terrorist what you would do or would not do," Young said.

Murtha, a hawk who raised Republican ire Thursday when he called for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by this spring, has been one of the most ardent supporters of the McCain amendment. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., also supports the language.

Young confirmed that informal talks in recent weeks have allowed the two chambers to resolve many of the funding disparities in the competing defense bills. But he declined to discuss any compromises. "I just don't want to get the whole town stirred up," Young said.

The two chambers have differed widely over funding for several key weapons systems, including the Navy's pricey DD(X) destroyer program, one of the largest differences in the two versions of the bill.

On that issue, Murtha has said the final report will more closely resemble the Senate version of the bill, which added $50 million for advanced procurement to the program. The House, however, has long been wary of the program and slashed $1 billion from it.