WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate has approved a $517.7 billion fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill.
The bill, approved Thursday, was a 4 percent increase over the amount authorized by Congress last year, CongressDaily reported.
The bill includes a $50 billion bridge fund to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the first six months of fiscal 2007, the report said. It totals $4.8 billion more than authorized by the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday night.
The Senate panel, which met behind closed doors, boosted funding for several weapons programs, including the addition of $1.5 billion to the Navy's shipbuilding accounts, largely due to concerns about the "declining size of the fleet," according to a summary of the bill released by the committee.
The LPD-25 expeditionary warfare ship, the Navy's top unfunded priority, was the clear winner among shipbuilding programs, receiving a $1.3 billion add from the panel. But the committee also said it wants to advance procurement of the CVN-21 aircraft carrier and the LHA(R) amphibious assault ship, CongressDaily said.
The senators also added $85 million to the budget for the Virginia class submarine, but they did not authorize funds to let the Navy buy two submarines a year by 2009, as their House colleagues did. The Navy has resisted any efforts to buy two subs annually before 2012, saying any change would disrupt its overall shipbuilding plan, the report said.
