THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080445
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
The Pentagon has sharply disputed claims by two prominent Republican senators, including Virginia's John W. Warner, that the Clinton administration's cuts in military spending have created a ``defense deficit.''
Civilian and uniformed leaders of the services were ``very distressed'' at charges leveled Monday by Warner and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. McCain argued that the military is ``completely and totally unready (for battle), and something needs to be done about it.''
Bacon insisted there is no basis for suggestions that the military's overall readiness is dangerously low. He conceded that some units have been allowed to slip but said none would be called on in the early stages of a conflict.
Front-line forces have the necessary equipment, and continue to receive the training and drilling they need to maintain readiness, he said.
Clinton last week announced a six-year, $25 billion plan to increase defense outlays. Most of the new spending would come at the end of that time frame, but the president said he'll also ask the new GOP-controlled Congress to provide about $2 billion immediately.
That money would restore cuts the administration made to readiness accounts in order to pay for peacekeeping operations in Haiti and Bosnia, and for humanitarian relief in Rwanda. It is less than 1 percent of the Pentagon's $260 billion budget for 1995.
McCain and Warner praised Clinton's moves but said they don't go far enough. The senators suggested shifting into readiness some $8 billion worth of ``pork-barrel'' programs in the current defense budget - including money to maintain production lines for more Air Force B-2 bombers and construction of a third Seawolf submarine.
McCain and Warner also urged Clinton not to proceed with plans for further defense cuts in his 1996 budget. Only a sliver of the $25 billion the administration discussed last week is slated to be spent in 1996 or '97; current projections for defense spending still show overall declines from the 1995 levels endorsed by Congress in September.
Except for the Seawolf, the Navy would fare well under the McCain-Warner proposal. And for Hampton Roads, the Seawolf's demise could have a silver lining.
The Seawolf is to be built by Electric Boat of Groton, Conn. Its production is considered critical to the yard's survival. Electric Boat is a key competitor of Virginia's largest shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding, for increasingly scarce Navy contracts. The Navy has indicated Electric Boat will handle its future submarine needs while aircraft carriers will continue to be built only at Newport News.
McCain and Warner, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are considered among Congress' strongest supporters of the sea service. Warner is a former secretary of the Navy; McCain flew Navy jets during the Vietnam War.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE SPENDING DEFENSE CUTS by CNB