WASHINGTON — When senior members of his own party last month pushed through a $1.2 billion emergency defense appropriation to, among other things, purchase new executive jets for Pentagon brass over the generals’ own objections, Rep. Tom Andrews led a palace revolt.

The coup failed by 30 votes in the 435-member House, but the Maine congressman and his allies continued the battle Tuesday to force House and Senate budget conference members to “stop payment” on the emergency appropriation.

That battle could have serious implications for the state’s defense industry because Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, reportedly has threatened to cut defense contracts to Bath Iron Works and Saco Defense Inc. in retaliation for Andrews’ attempt to kill the $1.2 billion appropriation.

At a press conference, Andrews and his allies noted that President Clinton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the Pentagon itself said the additional funds were not needed. The Senate approved funding for several priority items in the supplemental defense bill, such as the U.S. mission in Somalia and “no fly zone” over Iraq, but unanimously voted to pay for the unanticipated expenditures by cutting low-priority Pentagon programs.

“Congress should have called out a brass band to march down Constitutional Avenue to celebrate that kind of fiscal responsibility,” Andrews said, noting the initial opposition of Pentagon officials to extra funding for executive jets. “Instead … the House sent a message to the Pentagon not to worry about having to make cuts … (because) we’ll give you all the money you want,” Andrews said.

David Keating, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, a nonpartisan financial watchdog group, and Sen. Lautenberg, D-N.J., were among those joining Andrews in denouncing the $1.2 billion Pentagon bill. They said they hoped that media attention on the unasked-for Pentagon appropriation would put pressure on House/Senate budget conferees, who took up the president’s budget this week.

Andrews conceded that his high-visibility stance against Pentagon waste has stirred some animosity among his Democratic elders. Last year, after Andrews led a similar move to terminate funding for the B-2 bomber, Murtha deleted authorization for one of the DDG-51 destroyers made by Bath Iron Works. Senate Majority Leader Sen. George J. Mitchell and Sen. William S. Cohen succeeded in restoring funding for the $750 million ship, but Cohen indicated Friday that state lawmakers face a much more difficult task to maintain level funding for the destroyer program.

According to Cohen, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Murtha has indicated to congressional sources that he intends to either “zero out” the DDG-51 program, or limit this year’s authorization to just one DDG-51. Bath needs at least two ships per year to maintain current employment levels. It would have to compete with a Mississippi shipyard for a reduced pool of destroyers. The cut in DDG-51 funding reportedly took place during a closed-door “staff markup” meeting of Murtha’s subcommittee last week. Funding for the M-19 machine gun program, a principal source of employment for Saco Defense, was said to have been terminated. BIW and Saco Defense officials said they were aware of the rumored cutbacks.

Ray Landis, Murtha’s legislative director, refused to confirm whether there was a “staff markup” session dealing with the DDG-51 and M-19 contracts. “At this point, they’ve not saying anything publicly about what they’ve done during the mark,” the Murtha aide said.

Andrews said that threats of retaliation are common against members of Congress like himself who are demanding “change” in the way Congress does business.

“In this town, the word is `get along to go along … If you give into recriminations, they have got your number … (and can get you to cave) anytime they want by threatening your district,” Andrews said.

After the press conference, Andrews said he had heard of the “rumors and innuendoes” about retaliatory cutbacks of Maine defense contracts and sought out Murtha.

“I can’t comment on our conversation. It was private,” Andrews said.

“Murtha was not aware of Andrews’ press conference, and has made no statement regarding what Mr. Andrews has to say,” Landis said.

Any defense contract changes proposed by Murtha could be overturned at any of nearly a dozen steps legislative steps in the budget process, Andrews pointed out.