US plans Israel missile shield
House of Representatives gives Israel $205m towards anti-ballistic missile defences.
The move was spearheaded by Duncan Hunter of California, the senior Republican senator on the House Armed Services Committee and a candidate for his party’s 2008 presidential nomination.
It was a last-minute addition to the Democratic-controlled House’s version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, which still awaits action in the Senate and reconciliation of any differences between the bills
Overall, the House included about $8.2bn for the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency, a net reduction of $764m from the sum sought by George Bush, the US president.
The Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance, a lobbing group funded partly by companies involved in building missile shields, applauded the initiative to further integrate US and Israeli missile defences.