US Congress approves $368b defense spending bill

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, September 26, 2003

US Congress approves $368b defense spending bill

The US Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a compromise 368-billion-dollar defense spending bill for fiscal year 2004 beginning Oct. 1.

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The US Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a compromise 368-billion-dollar defense spending bill for fiscal year 2004 beginning Oct. 1.

One day after the House passed the measure in a vote of 407-15,the Senate voted 95-0 to pass the bill.

The bill, which largely met President George W. Bush's budget request, represents an increase of about 1.3 percent for the Defense Department over the amount approved for the current fiscal year.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, a Republican from Alaska, said the approval of the bill was a "demonstration of our support, of Congress' support, of our men and women in uniform."

But the defense spending bill does not include money for the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush requested 87 billion dollars to cover the wars and reconstruction effort in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next fiscal year.

The overwhelming votes in both chambers of Congress showed Democrats chose not to challenge Bush on defense and security issues after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The bill would provide an average military pay raise of 4.1 percent in 2004. It also would provide money for forming a new Stryker Brigade in the Army, which would be a highly mobile force built around an agile wheeled vehicle instead of a bulky battle tank.

It includes 9.1 billion dollars for a missile defense system, up 1.4 billion from this year, and 11.5 billion for shipbuilding, up 2.4 billion dollars.

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