The U.S. House of Representatives passed a 459.6 billion-U.S. dollar defense budget early Sunday for the 2008 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The budget, passed on a 395-13 vote, was slightly short of the 463.1 billion dollars requested by the White House early this year, but was nearly 40 billion dollars more than the current level.
The budget includes more money for equipment for the National Guard and Reserve, and 6 billion dollars to add 12,000 soldiers to the Army and the Marine Corps.
It would also increase spending for defense health care and military housing, and provide about 2.2 billion dollars for a 3.5-percent pay rise for military personnel.
The budget would allocate money for major weapons programs such as F-22 combat planes, the Joint Strike Fighter, and the controversial V-22 aircraft, and provide about 8.5 billion dollars for the missile defense program, about 883 million dollars short of President George W. Bush's request but nearly 1 billion dollars more than the current spending.
The defense measure contains a provision barring the establishment of permanent bases in Iraq, but does not provide funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Democrats have planned a debate on the money in separate legislation in September, after the August recess.
Source: Xinhua
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