Posted on 05/18/2007 10:28:44 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
The Democratic-controlled House passed its version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization legislation May 17, including a last-minute provision pushed by conservative Republicans to further integrate the U.S. ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) with Israel.
The amendment, proposed by Republican presidential contender Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who also leads the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) minority, would redirect $205 million in BMDS funds, as determined by Pentagon leaders, for the Israeli effort.
In turn, it would allocate $25 million more for Arrow missile co-production and integration between the allies, $45 million for a U.S./Israeli short-range missile system and $135 million to buy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) fire unit for Israel, Hunter told the House from the floor.
Reps. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), HASC chairman, and Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), strategic forces subcommittee chair, reluctantly accepted the motion - which then passed the House 394 to 30 - but not without lambasting Hunter and others for being ambushed by their proposal.
Skelton and Tauscher didn't get to see the proposal until five minutes before it hit the whole House. It was based on Republican proposals that failed to make it through the House Rules Committee, a pre-floor filter for the majority party in that chamber. House deliberations the day before were repeatedly stymied by upset Republicans whose proposals were sidelined by Rules (DAILY, May 17).
The procedural anomaly Hunter used also flies in the face of the usual bipartisanship he and Skelton have enjoyed for years, and could strain relations further as Democrats and Republicans marshal forces ahead of the 2008 presidential election.
Republicans cited firebrand Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in pitching the measure to the House. "If you could vote against a second genocide of the people of Israel, would you?" said co-sponsor Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.).
But Democrats railed against citing the Holocaust for such a proposition and suggested the amendment was more for domestic political consumption.
Otherwise, Skelton and Tauscher managed to maintain their HASC mark-up and its contentious missile defense authorization, leading the House to reject a left-wing proposal to slice another $1 billion from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), as well as a right-wing effort to restore $764 million in requested MDA funds.
Democratic Reps. John Tierney (Mass.) and Rush Holt (N.J.) proposed the further reductions, which would have killed both of the MDA's boost-phase interceptor programs, MDA's top-priority Multiple Kill Vehicle, the Alaskan ground-based midcourse interceptor base and the Bush administration's proposal for another site in Poland. They failed by a vote of 229-127.
But the House also rebuffed missile defense advocate Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), as the HASC did the week before, in trying to reverse Tauscher's cut to MDA's topline. Franks enlisted Republican Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) and Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) to propose Pentagon leaders find $764 million in non-missile defense DOD procurement or research funds and redirect them toward MDA. They lost 226-199.
The House later passed the underlying HASC bill, which remained largely unchanged from the committee version, by 397-27. The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to mark up its version May 22-23.
Hunter ping.
Israel ping.
bttt
That’s on his website:
http://www.gohunter08.com/inner.asp?z=4
22. The nation of Israel and the needed steps in the Middle East:
As House Armed Services Chairman, I recognize Israel as America’s most important ally in the Middle East region. As a result, I strongly support Israel’s right to exist and efforts to defend itself and I have consistently voted in favor of providing federal funding for Israel’s defense systems, including missile defense.
I also strongly support U.S. efforts to establish free societies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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As someone who was familiar with Hunter when he announced, this has been an area of longstanding interest for Duncan. I believe he was instrumental in the first US-Israel joint research projects in the field, in the mid 1980s. And yes, he's always been a supporter of Israel.
A few comments on immigration on today’s pings.
I heard it said on radio that the provisions for deporting illegals based on criminal records would save us from legalizing terrorists, citing the Fort Dix 6.
The Fort Dix boy were freelancers. A reminder of the danger of jihadist ideology. But not all terrorists are freelancers.
Organized terror groups aren’t run by the uneducated. They know our laws.
Anyone they infiltrate across the Mexican border, or through tourist or student visas, overstayed, will have a clean record at home. And will have a clean record here.
I’m open to correction, but other than visa violations, which will be overlooked, I don’t recall any contact by the 9/11 19 with law enforcement.
Immigrant status and future citizenship must be denied anyone who has associated with terrorist groups in the past, or in the future.
“Immigrant status and future citizenship must be denied anyone who has associated with terrorist groups in the past, or in the future.”
S “Time Machine” Jackson to the rescue :)
Democrats are complaining about being ambushed about a bill? LOL
Hunter-Israel Bump
...great information. Thanks!
John Hawkins: Missile defense shield.
Duncan Hunter: Yes, and I’ve been a strong supporter of that. I’ve put in the initial money for missile defense when it first started, I supported it strongly then, and I supported missile defense for ISRAEL (emphasis mine), very strongly. Incidentally, under my watch, we’ve actually deployed missile defense. We have our first missiles that are now deployed in Alaska and the west coast which had limited capability to intercept incoming ballistic missiles.
http://www.rightnation.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=114155
Our ONLY allies in that cesspool called the Middle East.
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