Congress Passes Defense Authorization Bill

Congress has finally passed the defense authorization bill in a last-minute vote. The bill has provisions that affect several Connecticut contractors. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

The bill had been stalled in the Senate since earlier in the year, because it originally contained controversial provisions including the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. But after the passage of that legislation in a standalone bill, a deal was struck to strip out all controversial provisions from the funding bill. As now passed late Wednesday, it includes $16 billion in funding for shipbuilding programs next fiscal year. Included in that number is the money to begin building two Virginia class submarines, a decision vital to the workforce at Groton’s Electric Boat. 2011 will mark the first time since the 1980s that two subs have been produced in one year.

The way forward is less clear for a more controversial program, the second engine for the future Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt and Whitney has been selected by the Pentagon as the prime engine contractor on the costly aircraft, but several lawmakers have kept alive General Electric’s hopes of producing a second, back-up engine. The bill neither authorizes nor restricts funding for the second engine, which in effect means that the new congress will have to return to the matter next year.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.