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

DATE: MONDAY, October 16, 1995                   TAG: 9510160095
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PENTAGON PORK

BUDGET HAWKS portray themselves as pretty darned courageous these days, taking on the old people (who vote in large numbers) as well as the more usual, easier targets: children, the homeless, the urban and rural poor.

Their fortitude fails them, however, when it comes to the guys at the Pentagon.

Far from cutting military spending at a time when the nation faces no serious threat to its security, President Clinton and the Congress seem to be trying to see who can force-feed the most high-fat diet to an already porcine defense establishment.

First Clinton, fearful of appearing weak on preparedness, proposed a $25 billion increase in military spending last December. Then Congress did him one better, passing a budget resolution in June that provides $7 billion in fiscal year 1996 - and a total of $18 billion over the next seven years - for "add-ons" the military did not even request.

Since when has the Pentagon been too demur to ask for all the money it needs, and more?

The House added $493 million for the first two of 20 B-2 bombers that the Pentagon says it doesn't need. The 20 it already has on order are quite enough, thank you. Oh, but we insist, the House replied.

What's another half a billion, here and there, when hundreds of billions must be cut from the federal budget to make a dent in the deficit?

Consider that the United States already is spending $5 billion every week on the military, according to the Center for Defense Information. That's $700 million a day.

In boosting defense spending, Republicans claim to be acting on a mandate from the public: It was a core provision in the House's "Contract With America." Yet polls show big majorities of Americans believe that the Pentagon should shoulder its share of any budget cuts.

Remember next time: Read the fine print before signing the contract.

by CNB