The U.S. House and Senate appropriators agreed to a $636.3 billion defense budget for 2010 on Dec. 15, defying the Obama administration by buying more C-17s, an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter and by refusing to kill the presidential helicopter.

The House passed the bill on Dec. 16; the Senate may take awhile longer.

The sharpest jab at Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Barack Obama came in the form of a $2.5 billion add-on for buying 10 more C-17 cargo planes.

Gates wanted to end the program, contending that the Air Force has plenty of C-17s and other airlift planes.

But the C-17 is a popular jobs program in at least a dozen states, so the House voted to spend $1.2 billion to buy three more planes and the Senate voted to spend $2.5 billion for 10 more. The lawmakers decided to compromise by accepting the Senate's plan.

Agreement on the alternate engine went more the House's way. Again, Gates argued against spending any money on it, and the Senate sided with him. But the House voted to spend $560 million to keep developing the engine.

The House gave in a little, the Senate gave in a lot and the compromise version of the spending bill now includes $465 million for the engine.

The alternate engine program is intended to develop an alternative to the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine. Lawmakers argue that if problems develop with the F135, they could ground much or all of the Joint Strike Fighter fleet, which will gradually comprise the bulk of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighter fleets.

The alternate engine would provide another option. It is being developed by General Electric and Rolls Royce, and development alone is expected to cost about $5 billion. Gates argued that the alternate engine was a waste of money.

The decision to keep funding the presidential helicopter may be seen as a partial victory for Gates.

The beleaguered helicopter program receives $130 million in the new appropriations bill. Of that, $100 million is for "technology capture" so that the $3.3 billion already spent on the VH-71 won't be wasted.

The House wanted to spend $485 million to "operationalize" five helicopters that are already mostly built. Gates pulled the plug on the program last spring after the cost for 23 helicopters increased from $6.5 billion to $13 billion.

Appropriations conferees also agreed to spend $15 billion on new ships — $120 million more than Gates requested.

That would pay for seven ships: one DDH-51 destroyer, one attack submarine, two Littoral Combat Ships, one joint high-speed vessel and two T-AKE cargo ships.

In a report on their compromise bill, lawmakers complained that the shipbuilding plan for 2010 "once again falls short" if the 10 ships needed annually to increase the fleet to 313 ships.

Congress has until Dec. 18 before the Defense Department runs out of money, but that doesn't mean the Defense Appropriations bill must pass by that date.

The military - and most of the rest of the U.S. government - has been operating under a "continuing resolution" since Oct. 1 because most appropriations bills did not pass in time for the start of the new budget year. Lawmakers may simply pass another continuing resolution and postpone a final vote on the Defense Authorization bill.