FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 1999
CONTACT: Lisette McSoud Mondello
SENATE APPROVES FINAL VERSION
OF FY2000 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL
Includes $450 million for Patriot PAC-3 missile system
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate Thursday approved the final version of a $268 billion FY2000 Defense Appropriations Bill that includes $450 million for the Patriot PAC-3 missile system.
"The Patriot PAC-3 provides the best protection against missile attack that we can offer our troops in the field," said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was instrumental in increasing funding for the program next year.
"Missile technology has spread to dozens of countries and terrorist groups. The Patriot PAC-3 system is a significant improvement over the Patriot missile Americans remember from the Gulf War. Its continued development should be completed as rapidly as is technologically feasible," the Senator said.
When Senator Hutchison came to the Senate in 1993, the Patriot was on the verge of being eliminated from the competition to build this system. She and Congressman Charlie Wilson of Lufkin worked to save the program.
"We kept it open – knowing that if the Patriot could compete, it would win. And it did," Senator Hutchison said.
At Senator Hutchison's urging, Congress added $45 million to the administration's Patriot PAC-3 procurement request for a total of $345.9 million, and increased funding for continued development of the system by $75 million, for a total of $104.1 million.
The Patriot PAC-3 missile system program is managed by Vought Systems-Lockheed Martin in Grand Prairie, Texas. Components for the system are produced in Lufkin, Texas.
The bill provides $4.5 billion more in defense appropriations for the FY2000 fiscal year than requested by the administration, including funding for a 4.8 percent military pay raise.
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