Democrats and Republicans agree that the nation’s missile defenses — designed to blunt missile threats from North Korea and Iran — need improvement, Roll Call reports.

But while the House wants to buy a new missile that has failed a recent test and commit to building an East Coast missile defense site, which would use an incomplete upgraded version of the missile, some key Senate leaders are far more skeptical.

Top defense policy and spending Democrats in the Senate said last week they would oppose efforts to go beyond what the administration has sought for upgrades to the ground-based interceptor, a missile used by the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, and an East Coast missile site, despite provisions in the House defense authorization and spending bills seeking to do just that.

Meanwhile, Roll Call also provides the background on the failed missile tests that have sparked questions about the $40 billion Ground-based Midcourse Defense system that was developed and deployed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles and consists of ground-based interceptor missiles, kill vehicles and radar located in Alaska and California.