WASHINGTON
- September 23 - The Council for a Livable World Education Fund today charged that while
politicians are using anecdotal evidence of readiness problems as a primary pretext
for increasing Pentagon spending, in reality they are seeking additional pork to pump into
their districts and states.
Most of the major proponents of new military spending, charged the Council, enter the
effort with dirty hands: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Speaker Newt Gingrich
(R-GA), House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston (R-LA), Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) and ranking Appropriations Committee
member Daniel Inouye (D-HI). All have been vigorously snaring many millions (and sometimes
billions) of dollars unrequested by the Pentagon to benefit their home states and
districts.
Members of Congress from both parties are proposing to add billions to the $271 billion
military budget before Congress adjourns in October. At the same time, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff are reportedly lobbying the Clinton Administration to increase next year's
budget request by up to $15 billion,and $50 - $75 billion over five years.
Republican leaders are orchestrating a series of hearings on readiness before
congressional adjournment, including two before the Senate Armed Services Committee and
one before the House National Security Committee.
John Isaacs, author of the report, pointed out that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has listed $5
billion in unwanted pork projects in this year's military appropriations bills, $4 billion
in the Defense Appropriations bill and another $1 billion in the military construction
bill.
The report quotes McCain, who advocates higher military spending, conceding:
"So why do we still have these serious and growing deficiencies in readiness, pay,
and modernization? Because the practice of Congress has tragically been to mis-use
billions of these scarce defense dollars to add unrequested programs and building projects
in the defense budget."
The report cited two items recently included in the Pentagon authorization conference
report: $400 million for six unrequested C-130 cargo planes, made near Speaker
Gingrich's district, and an unrequested LHD amphibious assault ship built in
Pascalgoula, Mississippi, promoted by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott that will cost
$1.5 billion.# # #
The report follows.
MILITARY READINESS SHORTFALLS:
CONGRESS MAJOR PART OF THE PROBLEM
Members of Congress from both parties are proposing to add billions to the $271 billion
military budget before Congress adjourns in October. At the same time, the Joint
Chiefs of Staff are reportedly lobbying the Clinton Administration to increase next year's
budget request by up to $15 billion, and $50 - $75 billion over five years.
The politicians, military leaders and defense contractors -- the military-industrial
complex -- are using as the primary pretext for increased funds anecdotal evidence of
readiness problems and the cost of overseas troops deployments. Republican leaders
are orchestrating a series of hearings on readiness before congressional adjournment.
However, the politicians, while crying readiness, are in reality seeking additional pork
to pump into their districts and states. Most of the major proponents of new
military spending enter the effort with dirty hands: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
(R-MS), Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob
Livingston (R-LA), Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) and ranking
Appropriations Committee member Daniel Inouye (D-HI). All have been vigorously
snaring many millions (and sometimes billions) of dollars unrequested by the Pentagon to
benefit their home states and districts.
===================================
Readiness shortfalls
===================================
To be sure, there is increasing anecdotal evidence of
readiness problems in the military: shortages of spare parts, weapons hard to
maintain, difficulty in retaining pilots and other key personnel, and a declining quality
of life.
However, these readiness questions are not the function of a low military budget.
Recently, the General in charge of all Army stateside troops on active duty warned of
declining preparedness of his troops. Yet his August 20 memo listed shortfalls
totaling only a few hundreds of millions of dollars. His wish list included $49
million for sewer and utility systems, $59 million for barracks repairs and $10.1 for food
services and dining facility operations.
Surely, a few hundred millions dollars can be found in other parts of the budget.
According to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Congress is set to approve $5 billion in unwanted
pork in this year's appropriations bills.
===================================
Congress major part of the problem
===================================
Congress has contributed to the military's woes, both by
squandering billions on pork projects aimed at funneling money to their districts and
states and by refusing to close unneeded and obsolete military bases.
As the fiscal year 1999 military bills have worked their way through Congress this year,
Congress has already larded the bills with special projects that, according to anti-porker
Senator John McCain, "represent a serious hemorrhage of scarce defense dollars to low
priority programs at the expense of vital readiness and modernization programs."
(McCain statement on his pork web page).
McCain estimates that the Senate version of the fiscal 1999 defense appropriations bill
contains $4 billion in special interest projects that he labels pork. He estimates
that the separate military construction appropriations conference report contains another
$1 billion.
This $5 billion in total pork would fund an awful lot of spare parts.
McCain is an advocate of higher military spending, but he cannot resist pointing to
Congress' role in the problem in a June 25, 1998 Senate floor statement:
"So why do we still have these serious and growing deficiencies in readiness, pay,
and modernization? Because the practice of Congress has tragically been to mis-use
billions of these scarce defense dollars to add unrequested programs and building projects
in the defense budget."
===================================
Two of the most egregious examples of pork:
===================================
- The Pentagon authorization conference report this year
includes $400 million for six unrequested C-130 cargo planes, a plane made in Marietta,
Georgia, and championed by Speaker Newt Gingrich. The latest version, the C-130J
model, costs about $50 million each and has been criticized by the Senate Armed Services
Committee for cost overruns ($900 million to develop rather than the $350 million
originally estimated) and for being more than two years behind schedule. Congress
further exacerbates readiness problems by failing to add sufficient funds for C-130 spare
parts and support equipment.
Said McCain about the C-130's: "The annual addition to the defense budget of the
C-130-J -- and we are buying enough of them to house the homeless in brand-new
fuselages -- is fiscally irresponsible in the extreme." (June 25, 1998 Senate floor
speech)
- The Pentagon authorization bill also includes an unrequested
LHD amphibious assault ship built in Pascalgoula, Mississippi, promoted by Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott that will cost $1.5 billion.
When the Senate considered the annual Pentagon
authorization bill on June 25, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) managed to scrape up $200 million
at the last minute for 22 military construction projects, taking from a supposedly
underfunded military budget. Sen. McCain could find only one common denominator in
the list of projects: 90% were in the states and districts of members of the
Appropriations Committee. Said McCain at the time:
"No objective observer can view this list as in any way addressing first the
requirements of the military and much needed improvements in the military, much less the
military construction projects that are needed."
As previously noted, the Chairmen of the relevant authorization and appropriations
committees are some of the most notorious porkers. Senator Inouye brags that he
added 31 additional projects costing $258 million to the Pentagon appropriations bill,
including $28 million for a Honolulu medical center and $1 million to study brown snakes.
Senator Stevens ensures that Alaska does not lack for funds either.
In addition, Secretary of Defense William Cohen has been pleading for the past two years
for two more rounds of base closings. While the size of U.S. military forces is down
36 percent, the U.S. has reduced infrastructure by only 21 percent. Cohen argues
that previous rounds of base closures will have produced a net savings of $25 billion by
2003 and will save about $3 billion annually after that. While base closings will not
solve immediate problems, they will help in the future. But Congress is more
interested in preserving local jobs than helping to solve any readiness problems.
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