$4.6B for missile defense, damaged Navy ships included in stopgap spending bill

The stopgap spending measure passed by the House on Thursday includes slightly more than $4.6 billion for missile defense programs and repairs to Navy destroyers damaged in collisions this summer.

The extra dollars are likely to placate defense hawks who pushed for a full-year Pentagon funding bill in the measure, a plan that was dropped after the Senate made it clear they wouldn’t support such legislation.

House Republicans on Thursday evening, a day before the deadline to fund the government, narrowly passed the measure to avoid a government shutdown and keep all federal agencies funded through Jan. 19 with a 231-188 vote.

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The continuing resolution includes about $2.4 billion for missile defense procurement, $1.3 billion for research and development, and $43 million for operations and maintenance.

In addition, $200 million is set aside to build a missile interceptor field in Alaska.

The measure also includes $674 million to repair the USS Fitzgerald and USS John McCain.

The Fitzgerald was damaged in a June 17 Pacific collision that killed seven sailors, while the McCain was damaged Aug. 21 when it hit a Liberian oil tanker near the Strait of Malacca, an incident that killed 10 sailors.

The White House had requested the additional funding last month.

The continuing resolution also delays mandatory across-the-board defense and domestic spending cuts set to take place in January, as mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act.