2008-05-07 23:58:08 -

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday recommended withholding nearly a third of the funds requested by the Bush administration for its European missile defense plans.
The panel said it was authorizing $232 million (¤150 million) less than what the president asked for because the project still needs approval from Poland and the

Czech Republic, where the administration wants to install the system.
The move by a subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee is just one step in a complex authorization process for the funds. The panel's cut could be restored later in the legislative process.
Last week the Senate Armed Services Committee authorized the full White House request of $712 million (¤461 million). Eventually, authorization bills by the Senate and the House would have to be reconciled and signed by the president to take effect.
The U.S. plans have become one of the thorniest issues in U.S.-Russian relations. Russia opposes building the missile defense sites so close to its borders, arguing that it would undermine its nuclear deterrent.
The plans include building a radar in the Czech Republic and installing 10 interceptors in Poland as part of a system that the United States says is intended to protect parts of Europe and the United States, primarily from Iran. The Defense Department says it could begin construction late next year if the two European governments approve the project.
The Czech government has reached a deal with the United States and expects to sign it in coming months. Negotiations in Poland have lagged over Polish insistence that any deal include broader U.S. defense aid. Both deals still need parliamentary approval.

«The subcommittee made these cuts so that the third site can move forward far enough to determine if it's the right platform to protect the American people,» said Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the chairwoman of the panel, the Strategic Forces subcommittee. «But not so far that we make long term commitments to an untested system that doesn't have the blessing of the host nations.
She also recommended that the budget for the overall U.S. missile defense program, including its assets in other parts of the world, should focus on more immediate and shorter range threats. The European system would counter long-range ballistic missiles and would not be operational before 2012.