Ending a three-day battle, the Senate used a voice vote at midnight Saturday morning to approve this year`s $318 billion defence bill and a compromise $20 billion package attached to it for the Pentagon and to bolster security at home. Senate Democrats settled for an anti-terrorism package half the size they wanted Friday as Republicans gave President George W. Bush a victory by standing solidly against a $35 billion plan the White House called too expensive.
Passage came after a long day in which Republican Senators rallied behind Bush and voted to bring down a Democratic-written $35 billion response to the Sept.11 attacks. Democrats came back hours later with a $20 billion alternative, a direct response to Bush`s repeated threats to veto anything exceeding that amount. The defence measure includes language that would establish a new program in which the government would lease up to 100 Boeing 767s to be used as air tankers to replace an aging fleet. Including defence funds in the anti-terror section of the bill, the measure would provide the Pentagon with $320 billion - $21 billion more than last year`s spending and the same as Bush`s request.

The bill also would give Bush the full $8.3 billion he sought for his prized missile defense programme, though he could divert $1.3 billion of it to anti-terrorism efforts. And it would provide military personnel with a 5% pay raise. Bureau Report