- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President
Bush signed into law a $355.1 billion defense spending bill on Wednesday,
giving the U.S. military its largest increase in two decades as the United
States braces for war with Iraq.
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- Bush said the $37.5 billion increase would boost spending
on armaments, develop new weapon systems and give the military a 4.1 pay
raise as it fights the U.S.-led war on terrorism launched after the Sept.
11 attacks on the United States.
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- "We've asked our military to prepare for conflict
in Iraq if it proves necessary," said Bush, flanked by the commanders
of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force and by key lawmakers at a White
House Rose Garden signing ceremony.
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- "The bill today says America is determined and resolute
to not only defend our freedom, but to defend freedom around the world,"
he added. "We will defeat terror."
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- In addition to the defense spending bill, Bush signed
a $10.5 billion military construction bill that will fund new and upgraded
military installations and military housing.
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- The bills Bush signed are the only two of the government's
13 annual spending bills to make it to his desk, a fact that reflects wrangling
between the Republican White House and the Democratic-led Senate, as well
as the overriding desire to protect the United States following the Sept.
11 attacks.
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- In percentage terms, the 11.8 percent increase in defense
spending is the largest since the roughly 17 percent increases in 1981
and 1982, the first years of the massive military buildup under former
President Ronald Reagan.
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- Bush aides have offered a wide range of estimates of
what an Iraq war might cost, with estimates from the $60 billion to $70
billion spent on the 1991 Gulf War up to $200 billion. Bush has threatened
Iraq with military action if it does not abandon its suspected chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons.
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- Bush said the military bill would spend nearly $72 billion
on weapon procurement, an $11 billion increase; would devote $58 billion
to research and development; and would boost funds for operations and maintenance
by more than $5 billion.
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- Among its details, the defense bill will:
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- -- spend $7.4 billion to develop a national missile defense
system, $43 million less than Bush wanted but well above levels pushed
by Senate Democrats who questioned whether such a system could work;
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- -- spend $9 billion for shipbuilding -- $842 million
more than Bush sought -- including $2.3 billion for two AEGIS destroyers,
$1.5 billion for a Virginia-class attack submarine and $1.3 billion for
cost overruns on ships funded by earlier budgets;
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- -- supports canceling the Army's $11 billion Crusader
howitzer program;
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- -- funds a 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel;
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- -- lays the legal groundwork for Boeing Co to lease 100
767 jetliners to the Air Force to serve as in-flight refueling tankers
to replace its aging tanker fleet;
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- -- provides $3.3 billion to buy 15 C-17 transport aircraft,
$3.2 billion for 46 Navy F/A-18 fighters, $4 billion for 23 F-22 fighters
and $3.5 billion for continued development of the multi-service Joint Strike
Fighter.
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