
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                    TAG: 9406090495 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940609                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

SENATE PANEL EXPECTED TO OK FUNDS FOR CARRIER

{LEAD} The $3.6 billion appropriation needed to build a new aircraft carrier, and perhaps save the jobs of thousands of Hampton Roads shipyard workers, is expected to win approval today from a key Senate committee.

Money for the ship, unnamed but designated CVN-76 by the Navy, was added to a 1995 defense authorization bill Tuesday night by a Senate Armed Services subcommittee.

{REST} ``I'm confident of the votes in the full committee,'' which is to consider the carrier today, said Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., the second-ranking Republican on the panel. Virginia's other senator, Democrat Charles S. Robb, also is an armed services panel member.

A Robb amendment restored money for the ship, which had not been included in a draft bill prepared by the subcommittee's chairman, Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Kennedy supported the change, prompting private speculation by Republicans and some Democrats that he purposely left the money out of his draft to let Robb take credit for adding it. Robb is seeking renomination in a four-way primary election on Tuesday and could face a tough, four-way race this fall.

The House already has approved the carrier, which is to be built at Newport News Shipbuilding. A delay or loss of the contract could force the yard to lay off about 4,000 workers, officials say, in addition to the 7,000 they already plan to put out of work by 1996.

The yard now employs about 21,000 people. Officials say that without enough work for at least 10,000 people, the giant yard would become unprofitable and might have to close. Newport News Shipbuilding is Virginia's largest private employer.

by CNB