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US House Passes Defense Bill
The US House of Representatives approved a 343-billion-US-dollar defense bill for fiscal 2002 Tuesday night after diverting some money from President George Bush's proposed missile defense program to counter-terrorism efforts.
The 398-17 vote followed bipartisan agreement to cut some funds from the missile defense program while boosting the money to fight terrorism by 400 million dollars, for a total of about 6 billion dollars.
The 343-billion-dollar measure, the total Bush requested, would authorize money for the military efforts of the Defense and Energy Departments for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1.
The U.S. Senate has not approved the bill yet.
Before the bill can become law, a House-Senate conference must resolve differences between the versions approved by each chamber.
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