LCS funding cut by U.S. Senate Committee

From: http://blog.al.com/live/2009/09/senate_panel_cuts_lcs_funding.html

"LCS funding cut, $1.7 billion in extra destroyer money allocated by Senate panel"
Posted by Sean Reilly, Washington Bureau September 11, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Appropriations Committee has voted to chop funding for the littoral combat ship program next year while giving the Navy $1.7 billion for a destroyer that it didn't request under a defense spending bill approved Thursday.

The bill, approved by the committee Thursday on a 30-0 vote, would give the Pentagon about $1.1 billion to order two littoral combat ships--instead of the three requested by Navy brass-- in fiscal 2010, which begins next month. The bill must still be approved by the full Senate and then reconciled with a House measure that furnishes enough money for four LCS buys next year...

While cutting the LCS program, the appropriations committee, which includes Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa., and Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Oxford...