Obama signs defense authorization bill, says 'waste' still remains
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009; 6:41 PM
By Michael A. Fletcher President Obama signed a $680 billion defense authorization bill Wednesday that he said begins the difficult process of eliminating "some of the waste and inefficiency" from the defense budget. The bill also includes an unrelated provision that makes it a federal hate crime to assault people based on their sexual orientation. As Vice President Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and members of Congress looked on in the White House East Room, Obama acknowledged that while the bill eliminated some weapons systems he called unnecessary, others survived. "This bill isn't perfect. This bill is an important step forward, but it's just a first step. There's still more waste we need to cut," Obama said. "There are still more fights that we need to win." The bill signed by Obama authorizes Pentagon operations. The president had threatened to veto the measure if Congress did not cut several costly
