Congress has reached agreement on the Fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill. There was no word yet on just what the final total would be, reports Congressional Quarterly. The Senate and House each cut the Administration’s defense request in their separate measures, $7 billion and $3 billion respectively. Rumsfeld has said he will urge President Bush to veto the spending bill if it comes in under the request. Of course, we are still waiting to see whether there will be a companion authorization bill. Apparently, the Senate has been too busy on other matters.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
