With little debate and no amendments, the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday approved a $246.9 billion fiscal 1998 spending bill, LEGI-SLATE News Service reported.
The bill is $3.2 billion more than the administration's request and $3 billion more than last year's level. But Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said it is $1.1 billion short of the House spending bill and $1.5 billion short of the level authorized by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The bill is scheduled to be taken up by the full Appropriations Committee Thursday.
One of the conflicts possibly awaiting the measure in full committee or on the floor is an on-going debate over two Air Force maintenance depots in California and Texas that were slated to be shut down or privatized under the 1995 base closing process, Stevens said. Having suffered through base closings in his home state, Stevens warned, "I don't think we're going to order another round of base closures until they're [the Texas and California depots] closed."
The bill makes no mention of the additional base closing rounds requested by the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, the House National Security Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday began marking up its FY98 spending bill and is expected to reconvene today and Thursday to complete work on the legislation, subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla., said after the session. Tuesday's session covered personnel, operations and maintenance and intelligence issues, leaving the more contentious procurement and research and development decisions for later in the week.
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