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23 July 2004

Bush Praises Bipartisan Support for Military Spending

Congress sends $416 billion defense bill to president's desk

President Bush acknowledged congressional passage of a $416.2 billion defense bill July 22 by expressing his pleasure that "a bipartisan majority in the Congress" stood with him in support of the military.

With the United States still at war, President Bush said the legislation -- which includes the $25 billion the administration sought for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- ensures that U.S. service personnel will remain well equipped, trained and paid. He commended members of Congress "for continuing to provide the resources necessary to support the critical mission ... in Afghanistan and Iraq."

The legislation stipulates that the president must report to Congress on the estimated costs of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom for future fiscal years 2006 through 2011; on any related military operations that may occur in and around those two countries; and on estimated reconstruction, security and economic costs in support of those two missions. The report is due on January 1, 2005, unless President Bush asks to be exempted from the reporting requirement for national security reasons.

Bush said he looked forward to signing the fiscal year 2005 legislation that will fund military requirements beginning October 1. The House of Representatives voted 410-12 in favor of the bill; the Senate voted unanimously.

The defense bill includes $70 million in humanitarian aid for the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Chad, funds a new Virginia-class attack submarine, and more than three dozen new Army Black Hawk helicopters. It also makes available around $409 million dollars to the former Soviet Union for cooperative threat-reduction programs such as dismantling and destroying nuclear submarines as well as security improvements for transporting and storing for nuclear warheads in Russia's Far East region.

The bill also calls for $155 million in funds for the Arrow missile defense program, $68 million of which is to be used to produce Arrow missile components in the United States and Israel and missiles in Israel.

More than $9 billion was approved for general U.S. missile defense research, development, testing and evaluation.

The House and Senate conference report also asked the president to provide by January 3, 2005, a report from the Army on landmine alternatives.

Due to ongoing combat operations and a surge in complex battlefield injuries, conferees recommended spending an additional $19 million over the administration's request for amputee patient care such as prosthetic devices, including $10 million for research into new ways to provide prosthetic care.

The defense legislation awaiting the president's signature is the first of 13 fiscal year 2005 government spending bills to be approved by Congress.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)