DEFENSE NOMINEE DOESN'T WANT TROOPS SENT TO YUGOSLAVIA

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993                   TAG: 9301080023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
DEFENSE NOMINEE DOESN'T WANT TROOPS SENT TO YUGOSLAVIA
Defense Secretary-designate Les Aspin endorsed on Thursday the use of Western military power to enforce a "no-fly" zone over Bosnia but opposed the use of U.S. ground forces in the former Yugoslavia.
The Wisconsin Democrat, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee since 1985, told a Aspin Senate committee at his confirmation hearing that Europeans have a bigger stake because they face the possibility of a massive influx of refugees.
Aspin said it "would be my preference" to use European troops as ground forces.
He was one of President-elect Clinton's four Cabinet choices to testify before Senate panels Thursday. Like Commerce Secretary-designate Ronald Brown a day earlier, all were greeted warmly, with no hint of any trouble winning confirmation.
Also testifying were Robert Reich, a Harvard economist selected to be secretary of labor; former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, nominated to be secretary of transportation, and Jesse Brown, a Vietnam veteran nominated to be secretary of veterans affairs.
In the hearings:
Brown drew bipartisan praise, but Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., said his pension from the Disabled American Veterans creates the perception "you will be beholden to them." Brown, 48, was executive director of the group's Washington headquarters.
Simpson asserted that Brown will be eligible for a pension of $41,000 a year or a lump-sum payout of $960,000. Brown said the lump sum he could take at age 50 would be between $500,000 and $600,000. "I feel $41,000 a year . . . is not an unreasonable amount for a person with 26 years of service, who has had the level of experience I have had," Brown said.
Reich reaffirmed Clinton's plan to require employers to dedicate 1.5 percent of their payroll to job training. Although Republicans call it a tax, Reich said, "There's absolutely no backtracking on this" and that most big employers already spend at least that much.
He said the Labor Department should start counting "discouraged workers," who no longer look for a job, among the unemployed.
Pena, 45, declared that re-regulation of the U.S. airline industry is "not on my radar," but called for a new look at the financial woes plaguing the airline business.
He said the Clinton team believes the way to help the airlines is to reignite the economy.
Senate Armed Services Committee members treated Aspin in friendly fashion. The daylong session was sufficient for the panel, a sharp contrast to the protracted and rancorous treatment of the late John Tower, who failed to win Senate confirmation four years ago.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he expected an "early and strong confirmation vote."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB