Toilet-Cover Prices for Navy Planes Cut to $100 From $640

The bottom line on toilet seat covers for Navy planes plunged Tuesday when a defense contractor, under pressure from Congress, agreed to reduce the price.

Lockheed Corp. agreed to bill the Defense Department $100 each for 54 toilet seat covers rather than the $640 price the contractor had charged earlier, Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) told a Capitol Hill news conference.

In Burbank, Calif., Lockheed released a telegram from company President L. O. Kitchen to Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. saying that the company dropped the price “to prevent this becoming an unnecessary diversion during congressional discussions of the national defense budget.”