President Bush must veto the defense appropriation bill if missile defense is stunted

In a party-line vote, the Senate Armed Services Committee has chosen to hamstring President Bushs ability to defend the American people against incoming enemy missiles. Democrats voted to slash missile defense funds and building new roadblocks to swift acquisition of such defenses.

This proposal is the handiwork of Committee chairman Carl Levin of Michigan. He induced even colleagues who have long been supporters of missile defense, like Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, to go along, apparently by brazenly transferring missile defense monies to ship-building and other member-directed priorities. As a result, the Levin proposal was adopted by the Committee on a straight party-line vote — even though it cut funds from air-, sea- and land-based programs that have long enjoyed the support of legislators like Max Cleland of Georgia and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

President Bush should inform lawmakers that he will veto the defense authorization bill if it does not provide the full and unencumbered $7.6 billion and programming he believes is necessary to defend against terrorist attacks by missile.

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