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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 6, 1994                   TAG: 9412060084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: NATL/INTL   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

DEFENSE CUTS, INCREASES PROPOSED

Two Republican senators Monday proposed cutting funds for the B-2 bomber, guard and reserve expansion, and ``pork barrel'' military construction projects so that other defense spending can be increased.

The proposals by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Warner, R-Va., would make those short-term savings, while massively increasing defense spending over the next five years, an increase they argue is needed simply to maintain the existing armed force.

Programs and perquisites placed on the chopping block by the two lawmakers, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, include special spending designed only to keep certain weapon producers from closing, defense department executive jets, $1.5 billion in defense conversion funding, and such oddities as a wild horse roundup at the White Sands, N.M., missile range and improvement of Mississippi River charts.

High on the list is a $125 million appropriation approved earlier this year to study whether the Pentagon should buy more B-2 Stealth bombers.

``The American people want a strong defense,'' said Warner, the second-ranking Republican on the defense panel. ``They think that when Congress and the president appropriate funds for defense, it's for defense, not for wild horses and other things.''

by CNB