PANEL VOTES TO ADD $800M TO SHIPBUILDING REQUEST
By DAVID LERMAN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee voted in secret Thursday to add at least $800 million to President Bush's request for shipbuilding next year, including money to speed up work on a future aircraft carrier, senators confirmed.
The decision, which largely mirrors a House action, appears to ensure enough money to avoid a one-year delay in construction of the first CVNX-class carrier at Northrop Grumman Newport News. Lawmakers had warned that the Navy's proposed delay, from 2006 to 2007, could force hundreds of temporary layoffs at the local shipyard.
The vote also provides extra money -- several hundred million dollars -- to buy parts for future Virginia-class submarines, which are built jointly by the Newport News yard and the Electric Boat shipyard in Connecticut. The advance money is designed to help the Navy get closer to its goal of buying two subs each year, instead of one.
But in offering extra money for shipbuilding, the Democratic-controlled committee financed the measure by scaling back money for one of Bush's top priorities: a missile defense system.
That strategy triggered a revolt by many of the committee's Republicans, including its most senior member, Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia.
Warner, who faces re-election this fall, found himself in the awkward position of opposing the defense spending bill. He backed increases for shipbuilding, but he said the committee didn't go far enough to sustain the Navy's fleet. "I'm deeply concerned about the inability to adequately fund shipbuilding and missile defense," Warner said.
The committee chairman -- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. -- said his panel cut only about 10 percent of Bush's missile defense program, which he said had little prospect of getting under way next year.
"The shipbuilding accounts had been shorted," Levin said.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. and a staunch shipbuilding advocate, said the missile defense money was used to provide some advance money for a sub, a destroyer and an amphibious transport ship. No precise figures were immediately available. Levin plans to conduct a news conference today to unveil the committee's bill, which was debated and voted on behind closed doors. Senators have defended the closed-door practice, citing the need to discuss classified national-security issues.
The committee endorsed the defense bill 17-8, Levin said. The split marked the second consecutive year that the committee failed to offer a bill that could win broad bipartisan support. In a sign of the apparent discord, Warner said he had no plans to attend today's news conference.
The fight over missile defense also sets up difficult negotiations on a final defense bill with the Republican- controlled House. The House was headed toward passage of its own defense measure late Thursday. It had found extra money for shipbuilding by tapping part of a $10 billion war reserve that Bush had proposed.
The Senate committee's measure would leave the war reserve alone and cut missile defense instead.
David Lerman can be reached at (202) 824-8224 or by e-mail at dlerman@tribune.com