On September 23, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees agreed to a compromise Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization Bill.
The bill passed the House on September 24 and should be considered by the Senate very soon.
The Bush Administration wanted a new nuclear weapon called the Reliable Replacement Warhead – Congress said no.
Bush wanted funds for the Space Test Bed for space-based interceptor weapons – Congress said no way.
Our lame duck leader wants to commit the U.S. to a hurried deployment of a new missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic – but Congress cut $246 million from the more than $700 million requested for the program and added some tight restrictions…Like, the missile defense system actually should work before being deployed.
What an unusual concept: That wasn’t a factor in the national missile defense system already deployed in Alaska and California.
Cart, horse, you get the picture.
So much for those who had predicted that Congress would fall all over itself pushing money at the European third site in the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict. It just didn’t happen.
And Congress added money for non-proliferation programs. Which is always good.
Not bad for a closely divided Congress under George W. Bush.
