The United States Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a 401-billion-dollar defense authorization bill, clearing the way for research on new types of nuclear weapons.

The Senate voted 95-3 to authorize the money for the Defense Department and nuclear programs by the Energy Department for the current fiscal year which started on Oct. 1. The House of Representatives passed the bill by 362-40 on Friday.

The authorization marked an increase of eight billion dollars over the 2003 fiscal year.

The bill gave the Air Force a go-ahead to lease 20 Boeing 767 planes as midair refueling tankers and buy 80 more. The Air Force's original plan to lease all 100 planes was rejected by some senators who said it would be too costly.

It also lifted a decade-old ban on research on low-yield nuclear weapons and deep earth-penetrating weapons. The Bush administration said the new weapons would be needed one day to destroy weapons of mass destruction hidden underground by hostile nations.

Democrats have said lifting the ban could trigger a new nuclear arms race.

Most of the funding authorized in the bill will come from a 368-billion-dollar defense spending bill signed by President George W.Bush on Sept. 30. It will provide a 4.15-percent average pay raise for military personnel and 9.1 billion dollars for the developmentof missile defense.

The authorization bill also grants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld much of the control he sought over the Pentagon's civilian workforce. It will give supervisors greater flexibility to hire, fire and transfer civilian workers.

Rumsfeld has sought to set up a separate personnel system for the Pentagon's civilian workforce in a bid to free more troops for combat tasks. Democrats complained the bill stripped civilian workers of many basic rights.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2003)