THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080525
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 31 lines
The House narrowly approved financing Thursday to begin expanding the nation's fleet of B-2 Stealth bombers, a step the Pentagon says it neither needs nor can afford.
The House vote set the stage for a battle with the Senate over whether to add, at a cost of billions, to a program that is now capped at 20 planes.
The vote, 213-210, defeated an amendment to the $244 billion Pentagon spending bill for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The amendment would have eliminated $493 million for components for two more B-2s, the 21st and 22nd.
The narrow margin of the vote reflected budget constraints that had caused support for buying more of the bat-winged, radar-evading planes to slip since the House, in a 219-203 preliminary vote in June, first approved the B-2 expansion.
The Senate, which until this year favored the B-2 more than did the House, has rejected any additional financing for the plane. As a result, the fate of additional B-2s rests with a conference committee of Senate and House members that will hammer out a compromise later this month. by CNB