ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
Soldiers got a raise Monday - and stalkers got stricter penalties - as President Clinton approved $256.6 billion in defense spending designed to allow the United States ``to prevail on the battlefields of tomorrow.''
The bill Clinton signed sets aside $11.2 billion more for national defense than he had requested, mostly to buy more weapons and research new ones.
Clinton said the upgrades are necessary ``to ensure that our country remains the strongest force for peace and freedom in the world.''
The legislation provides a 3 percent pay increase for military personnel and a 4.6 percent increase in the allowance for off-base living quarters. The pay raise, effective Jan. 1, adds $26 to a month's pay for the average private. A captain in the Navy or a colonel in the other services would get an extra $156 a month.
The defense authorization bill also strengthens federal laws against stalking, making it a crime to cross state lines for the purpose of harassing or stalking someone. Several victims of stalking, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, looked on as Clinton signed the bill.
The anti-stalking provisions make interstate stalking and harassment a federal crime regardless of whether the victim previously obtained a protection order. It sets penalties from up to five years in prison for harassment to life in prison for bodily injury.
``Today, we say loud and clear, if you stalk and harass, the law will follow you wherever you may go,'' Clinton said.
- Associated Press
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