Lawmakers OK Deal on Defense Spending

House and Senate negotiators approved a nearly $245-billion defense appropriations bill that they said was $9.4 billion more than President Clinton requested. They predicted that Clinton would sign the bill, which includes a 3% military pay raise. The measure also includes $325 million more than Clinton requested for antimissile defense research to speed up construction of such a defense for U.S. cities, $600 million more than Clinton requested to improve deteriorating military housing and $500 million more than Clinton requested for ships.