Making Converts

Congressmen used to funnel money back home with defense dollars. Now they do it with "defense conversion" dollars. Very quietly in November, the 1994 Defense Appropriations bill came out of a House-Senate conference and was instantly signed by President Clinton. The bill calls for distribution of more than $2.4 billion to fund such defense-conversion projects as these:

Renovation of state pier million in New London, Conn. $3.7

California Statewide Economic Development Network $3.1 million

World Language and Cultural Studies Center, Pfeiffer College, Misenheimer, N.C. $250,000

Regional Manufacturing and Engineering Center, Troy, N.Y. $1.2 million

Tucson Defense Conversion Project $225,000

San Diego State University Center on Defense Conversion $7 million

St. Louis Manufacturing Extension Program $1 million

Mojave Regional Technical Center for San Bernardino County, Calif. $167,000

Curved Plate Technology Project, Norfolk, Va. $15 million

High Technology Center Rochester, N.Y. $6 million