WASHINGTON – Military personnel will get an above-inflation pay raise of 3.4 percent under a Pentagon policy bill the Senate passed Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The pay increase was a half-percentage point more than Obama sought earlier this year and beats the average pay boost in the private sector.
The popular legislation also gives Obama a few victories in his bid to kill some especially costly weapons systems, though it contains an effort by lawmakers to continue development — over the president's strong objections — of a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon's next-generation fighter jet.
The Senate cleared the House-Senate compromise measure by a 68-29 vote.
The far-reaching legislation also prohibits the Obama administration from transferring any detainee being held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba to the U.S. for trial until 45 days after it has given notice to Congress. Guantanamo prisoners could not be released into the U.S.
The bill also contains unrelated legislation strengthening federal hate crimes laws to include violence against homosexuals, angering Republicans who objected to the military measure carrying social legislation.
The bill also contains significant changes to voting procedures for U.S. troops and other American voters overseas.
Some Pentagon reform advocates had hoped Obama would take a more aggressive stance against costly and poorly performing weapons systems. But Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates focused most of their attention on a handful of items, especially trying to kill the jobs-rich but well-over-budget F-22 fighter program, which has its origins in the Cold War era and, its critics maintain, is poorly suited for anti-insurgent battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The measure would terminate production of the F-22.
Lawmakers, however, are taking on the White House — and a vaguely-worded veto threat — over a program to develop an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Air Force's multimission fighter of the future. The second engine would be built by General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce in Ohio, Indiana and other states. The main F-35 engine is built in Connecticut by Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp.
The administration promised in June to veto the legislation if it would "seriously disrupt" the F-35 program, an iffy threat at best. It says that spending on a second engine is unnecessary and impedes the progress of the Joint Strike Fighter program.
The legislation recommends $560 million for the program in 2010, and the administration has since backpedaled from the veto threat.
"I would be stunned if they vetoed," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said after the vote.
Levin also touted less-noticed provisions that would allow the U.S. to give the Afghanistan army more useful military equipment, revamp the processes for trials of enemy combatants by military commissions to conform with a Supreme Court ruling and authorize small cash payments to Afghans to try to win over their loyalties from the Taliban.
The Pentagon says the Pratt & Whitney engine is performing well and that the second engine adds unnecessary costs and would delay the program. Supporters of the program say it provides competition that would boost contractors' performance and tamp down costs.
The legislation does, however, accede to Obama's call to terminate the VH-71 replacement helicopter program for the presidential fleet. The program is six years behind schedule and estimated costs have doubled to more than $13 billion.
And it cuts the missile defense program by about 12 percent from the $10 billion-plus level envisioned by former President George W. Bush for the 2010 budget year. It supports Obama's plan to cancel the building of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.
The $680 billion measure doesn't actually fund the Pentagon's budget but provides policy guidance that is typically followed closely by the appropriations committees. It also approves Obama's $130 billion request to conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

GOP Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, however, blasted the measure for calling for just a 4 percent boost in Pentagon funding.

"The bill is the beginning of a downward spiral in defense spending," Inhofe said. "We have reached a crossroads and have chosen not to invest in the long-term modernization and readiness of our military."

Republicans were irate that the so-called hate crimes legislation was attached to the bill. It would give people attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender federal protections and significantly expand the reach of hate crimes law.

The bill also increases, from $500 to $1,100, the supplemental allowance paid to service members with large families to make sure they earn at least 130 percent of the federal poverty line.

The measure also would boost troop levels to 1,425,000, about 55,000 more than current levels.

SAO PAULO – Home-crowd favorite Rubens Barrichello started well in his quest to keep Brawn GP teammate Jenson Button from clinching the Formula One title, finishing ahead of him during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday.
Renault's Fernando Alonso had the fastest time of the day at the 2.6-mile Interlagos track with a lap of 1 minute, 12.314 seconds. He was 0.043 ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and 0.145 in front of Barrichello.
Button has a 14-point lead in the drivers' standings and needs only a third-place finish Sunday in the season's next-to-last race to clinch his first F1 title. He finished fifth while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel — beside Barrichello, the only other title contender — was seventh.
"We struggled a bit on new tires this afternoon so it was hard to get a balance," Button said. "We need to work on that overnight. We are not comfortable yet."
The 37-year-old Barrichello will be backed by a crowd of about 70,000 Sunday. He is trying to win at home for the first time in his 17-year career.
"It's all together, the good vibe of the people, the track, a good setup," he said. "I just have to go flat out, that's all, and forget about the rest."
Both sessions were run mostly under dry conditions although light rain at times kept the drivers off the track. More rain is forecast for Saturday's qualifying run and occasional showers are expected Sunday.
Last year, a downpour with just a few laps to go helped decide the title, which was won by Lewis Hamilton thanks to a pass on the last turn of the final lap.

DEAR ABBY: Before my son deployed to Afghanistan two months ago, his grandma, aunts and cousins all promised to send cards, letters and care packages.

So far, not one of them has stepped up to the plate. I am so frustrated I felt like crying as I was preparing a care package with his favorite cookies.

Abby, why do people make promises they can't keep? -- BROKENHEARTED MILITARY MOM

DEAR MILITARY MOM: The promises are often made with the best intentions -- and then the promiser becomes distracted, diverted, forgetful. In most cases, no one means to be hurtful.

Because these forgetful folks are family members, my advice is to remind them of what a morale booster it would be for your son to hear from them. Suggest items he might need, and offer to send them along with YOUR next care package.

DEAR ABBY: My co-worker has the same last name as a deceased porn star. We work in customer service together, and she gets many suggestive comments and laughs from our male customers. She would like to respond with a witty comeback without being offensive or jeopardizing her job. Any suggestions? -- FRIEND OF LOVELACE

DEAR FRIEND: While it may be tempting for your co-worker to respond with a witty comeback, she should play it smart and resist the urge to acknowledge her male customers' attempts at humor. Once she starts "getting cute," it will only encourage more of the same.

DEAR ABBY: I am a directory assistance operator who would like to pass on some advice to our callers:

We do NOT know your Aunt Martha who lives behind the Kmart store, and we no longer sit in the back room at a switchboard at the local drugstore. We may not even be located in the state you are calling.

When you dial directory assistance, please be prepared to provide the city, state and the first and last names of the person whose number you need, or the complete name of the business. A street name helps for common names.

Please have your pencil and paper ready to write down the number. We cannot wait five minutes while you hunt through drawers or glove compartments, or worse, put the phone down to look in another room. Our contract with your phone company usually requires that we finish each call within a short time, and we can lose that contract if we cannot comply.

And please, do not swear at us or call us names if we are unable to help you. Our information is only as good as what's provided by your local carrier to our database. We really do try our best to help you.

Thanks, Abby, for helping spread this message on behalf of thousands of hardworking operators. -- SMILING INTO THE SPEAKER

DEAR SMILING: I'm pleased to pass along your commonsense suggestions. Because so much of the telephone information system has become automated, callers do need to have pencils handy and give clear information when requesting a number. And when someone is lucky enough to actually be connected to a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood human being (yes!), abusing the person is not only unproductive, it could get you disconnected.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send a business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $12 (U.S. funds)

to: Dear Abby -- Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included in price.)

LONDON – A skeletal figurine used to create one of the 1930s' most memorable movie monsters is going up for sale.
Christie's auction house says the 22-inch (56-centimeter) metal figurine was used to represent King Kong in the climactic scene where the giant ape scales New York's Empire State Building.
"King Kong" wowed audiences with what for the time were astonishingly realistic special effects. The titular monster's movements were created using stop-motion animation.
At time of the 1933 movie's filming the skeleton was clad in cotton, rubber, liquid latex and rabbit's fur. Christie's spokeswoman Jo Swetenham said Friday that the covering had since rotted off.
Christie's says the figurine will go up for sale late next month.