For the Pentagon, Senate appropriators’ 2011 defense spending measure is a mixed bag.
The long-awaited bill grants defense officials’ wishes by zeroing funds for a fighter engine they do not want, but it misses their funding target by $26 billion.
Senate appropriators finally unveiled their 2011 Pentagon appropriations bill late Friday, proposing to give the Defense Department $514 billion in its base budget.
That level likely will not please Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has said the Pentagon needs at least $540 billion for its 2011 base budget.
Full story: Senate panel proposes $26 billion less than Gates says is needed