The House-Senate Conference Should Agree to Rapid Deployment of Missile Defenses

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Baker Spring

Research Area: Military and defense

Keywords: Missile defense

Type: Report

Abstract:

On June 15, 1995, the House of Representatives passed its version of the Defense authorization bill for fiscal 1996 (H.R. 1530). The Senate passed its version (S. 1026) on September 6. The two bills contain important provisions for deploying defenses against short- and long-range ballistic missiles. They differ, however, in significant ways. These differences will have to be reconciled in a conference between representatives of the House and Senate military oversight committees. The conferees should not settle for a weak bill that postpones deployment or takes the U.S. ballistic missile defense program down a dead-end road. They should demand a strong bill that advances the goal of deploying, as rapidly as possible, effective defenses against ballistic missiles.