House Rejects, OKs 12 MXs

WASHINGTON — The House voted 359 to 67 today to approve a bill freezing Pentagon spending after it first voted to eliminate $1.7 billion to buy a dozen MX missiles but later reversed itself.

The measure to delete funds for the MX, the nuclear weapon that has been the center of a long-running Capitol Hill fight, first passed on a 211-208 vote but was later defeated by a 214-210 margin. The House bill would appropriate most of a $292-billion Pentagon budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.