$299 Billion in Defense Funds OKd

WASHINGTON — Congress gave final approval Thursday to a $299.6-billion Pentagon authorization bill that puts the military services into the war on drugs and cuts back sharply on President Reagan’s “Star Wars” plan for a space-based missile defense system.

By votes of 229 to 183 in the House and 64 to 30 in the Senate, the measure was forwarded to the White House for Reagan’s signature, normally routine on such major legislation.

But, jarred by setbacks for several Administration arms control policies, Republican lawmakers warned that the President might veto the bill, which was passed mainly along party lines.

Reagan Stance Uncertain

“It’s a liberal Democrat defense bill,” Rep. William L. Dickinson (R-Ala.), ranking GOP member of the House Armed Services Committee, complained. Senate GOP leader Bob Dole of Kansas said that he is not sure Reagan will sign the measure.

However, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and ranking committee Republican John W. Warner of Virginia disputed contentions that Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci opposes the Senate-House compromise agreement.

It is about 1% below the current year’s defense spending level and marks the fourth consecutive drop in defense outlays from the peak level of $334 billion in 1985.

But Republican critics complained more about the military policy decisions in the measure than the maximum funding amounts Congress authorized the Pentagon to spend in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Actual appropriations will be approved later this summer.

For the President’s Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly called “Star Wars,” the bill authorizes $4.1 billion, about $800 million less than Reagan requested and 0.5% below current spending after adjusting for inflation.

In addition, Congress ordered a shift in emphasis in favor of ground-based systems, limiting funds for a space-based interceptor to $85 million but earmarking at least $575 million for lasers and kinetic interceptors that would be fired from Earth.

In another major decision, Congress decided to approve $250 million each for research on rival missile systems--the single-warhead Midgetman and the rail-mobile MX--and to put another $250 million in reserve so that the next President can decide which system to develop. The Administration had asked for nearly four times as much money for MX research as it did for the Midgetman.

The bill limits SDI tests in the 1989 fiscal year to those already planned by the Administration that would not violate the traditional, or narrow, interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

It imposes a ban on flight tests of depressed trajectory ballistic missiles--designed to be fired from submarines for attacks on airfields--so long as the Soviet Union observes a similar ban.

In another move opposed by the Administration, the bill requires the retirement of two Poseidon submarines to limit the extent by which the Pentagon may exceed limits on missile launchers in the now-expired and never-ratified second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

There was bipartisan agreement on one issue--using the armed forces to spot and track drug-smuggling aircraft and ships and report them to civilian law enforcement authorities. The measure, which allocated $300 million for this purpose, complies with a Pentagon request by forbidding members of the armed forces to make arrests.

The bill contains also a 4.1% pay raise for uniformed military personnel and a 7% increase in their basic allowance for quarters, effective Jan. 1. And, in a tribute to a man who has entertained troops overseas during three wars, the bill directs the Navy to name a ship after comedian Bob Hope.