Defense spending bill a boon for Georgia's bases

WASHINGTON — An annual defense policy bill that the House passed Friday includes hundreds of millions of dollars for operations at Georgia's military installations and fends off a new round of base closures.

The legislation, which would greenlight about $696 billion in military spending, won the support of all 10 of the chamber's Georgia Republicans, as well as the state's two more centrist Democrats. But U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson of Lithonia and John Lewis of Atlanta voted with 71 other mostly liberal Democrats to reject the plan.