The Senate and House have approved a $5.45 billion defense supplement bill and have sent it to Conference for final approval. The bill includes $3 billion for operations and maintenance, $596 million for procurement, $385 million for R&D, and $1.5 billion for health services. The Senate rejected a Democratic Party bid to take $594 million from the V-22 program and give it to the UN AIDS research program. The Senate also rejected the Clinton-era practice of using emergency appropriations for operations and maintenance, allowing those accounts to be raided for other costs. The Bush Administration insists that it will not allow such budget raids to take place in future.--Stephen V Cole