Democrats, White House set for showdown

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 8. In a vote on strict party lines, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to cut some $ 1.3 billions from the Missile Defence Programme, setting the stage for a fight with the White House on the issue.

While the Senate panel cleared the Pentagon's $ 343 billions for fiscal 2002 starting October 1, the vote on the cut for missile defence programme was 13 to 12 with all the Republicans opposing the move.

The Senate Committee not only cut funds for the President's key programme but also placed restrictions on missile defence activities which was also opposed by the Republicans.

Under the scheme of things, a special vote by Congress would be required if any of the money that is going to be spent on the tests is violative of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. This would hold good even if the U.S. is no longer a party to this accord. The President, Mr. George W. Bush, has repeatedly said the U.S. will pull out of the ABM Treaty at a convenient time. Republicans, smarting and miffed at the cut in the missile defence programme funding, are up in arms that Democrats would seek to further tie up the President's plan by insisting that Congress vote each time a test is deemed violative of the 1972 arrangement.

``This language will not become the law of the land as surely as I'm standing here'', the ranking Republican on the Committee, Mr. John Warner, told reporters after the panel meeting.

He released a letter from the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, warning law makers that he would recommend a veto of the Defence Appropriations Bill if it contained this particular language.

``If such language were to become law, it would send a signal to the Russians and other countries that may prefer that the U.S. remain vulnerable to ballistic missiles that they can wait us out'', Mr. Rumsfeld had argued.

What is critical is that the Democrats in the Armed Services Committee are seeking to pin down the future tests of the missile defence plan and the ABM Treaty even after the U.S. had pulled out of the accord. But the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Cark Levin, argues that this is all about the implications of Washington getting out of the treaty unilaterally.

``We have a responsibility for appropriating funds when the issues are that important - to have the information which has not been provided to us as to whether or not, in fact, these activities for which funding is being sought conflict with that treaty'', Mr. Levin, the Democrat from Michigan remarked.

Russia and China are vehemently opposed to the missile defence plan as it is seen clearly violative of the ABM pact. The Bush administration has entered into a serious dialogue with Moscow on the subject and is confident of winning the Russians over.

In any case, there is the view that an unofficial deadline of November has been set for the U.S. to pull out of the ABM Treaty, a view brushed aside by this Republican administration.

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Section  : International
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