Senate and House conferees agreed late last week to hold the Fiscal 2006 supplemental appropriations for the war on terror and hurricane recovery to $94.5 billion—more than the House proposed, but much less than the Senate version. The President had requested $98.7 billion and vowed to veto the measure if lawmakers went above the Administration request. The conferees agreed to fund DOD at the Administration’s request of $65.8 billion. (Find the Senate summary here and the House here.)
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.