THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280245
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
The Republican-led Congress on Friday took its first significant steps toward asserting control of defense policy but encountered an unusually tough rebuke from Defense Secretary William J. Perry, who signaled the administration's determination to retain authority over national security.
In testimony before a House committee, Perry took sharp issue with GOP draft legislation that would reorder U.S. military strategy. He said a provision of the bill setting up a special commission to revamp strategy ``usurps the responsibilities of the secretary of defense.'' If members ``find that I'm incapable or unwilling to meet those responsibilities, you should ask me to step down,'' he said.
Perry denounced the bill as ``deeply disturbing'' and said the GOP assertion that the U.S. military had become a hollow force was ``a wrong . . . dangerous statement'' that ``misleads the American people and may confuse potential aggressors.''
The GOP bill embodies the defense agenda contained in the House ``Contract With America.''
Just down the hall, in the House International Relations Committee, Republicans were pushing through a section of their bill that would sharply curtail U.S. participation in United Nations peacekeeping, prevent U.S. troops from serving under non-American commanders and set a Jan. 10, 1999, deadline for offering NATO membership to Poland and other Eastern European nations.
Meanwhile, a House Appropriations subcommittee approved $3.2 billion in emergency funds for the Defense Department, $600 million more than the administration said it needed to pay for overseas operations in Haiti, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere this year.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE MILITARY READINESS by CNB