THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 23, 1995 TAG: 9512220020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The Senate passed a defense bill Tuesday that dishearteningly demonstrates the limits of the Republican revolution in Washington. Fundamental change ought to mean the government buys from the best possible supplier at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.
Instead, the defense authorization bill is a monument to pork-as-usual. Senators who care more about a strong national defense at an affordable price than about feathering their own nests opposed it.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is a watchdog on waste in the military budget and found too much in this bill to favor it. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., is widely respected on defense matters and he too opposed the bill for including ``sweetheart deals for certain shipyards.''
But the bill passed 51-43. It contains much that is needed including a military pay raise and an increase in the housing allowance for married service members.
However, the bill would spend more than the Pentagon and president requested, though a painful squeeze is being applied to the rest of the federal budget. It calls for a missile defense to be deployed by 2003 even though it may violate the ABM treaty, will cost billions, has yet to prove itself and would provide an imperfect shield against terrorists.
Even worse, much of the spending, as Nunn complained, is rigged to send jobs and dollars to the districts of powerful members of Congress. 'Twas ever thus, the cynic might conclude. But these are the same characters who have been touting revolution. Who's kidding whom?
Whenever possible, military procurement ought to proceed on the basis of competitive bids. Free enterprise shouldn't stop at the Pentagon door. But this bill requires the Pentagon to send shipbuilding work where congressmen want it.
The Navy did not request an amphibious landing ship, but the bill calls for almost $1 billion to be spent building one in the home state of Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
A helicopter carrier ship - also not requested by the Navy - would be built in the hometown of Republican Whip Trent Lott at a cost of $1.3 billion.
The fix is also in on Aegis-class destroyers. Their construction will alternate between Lott's favorite shipyard and one in the back yard of Maine's powerful Republican Sen. William Cohen.
Both of Virginia's senators voted in favor of this bill because it gives Newport News Shipbuilding a chance to share in the construction of a new class of attack submarines and eventually to win more business if it performs well.
It's possible to fault Warner and Robb, but at worse they are guilty of self-defense. When the fix is in, those too pure to play lose out. But there's a big difference between going to bat for Newport News Shipbuilding and the contractors that some of the pork procurers are promoting. The Virginia company is a world-class competitor that seeks to win contracts on the merits if the playing field is level.
Clearly, this isn't the way the game is supposed to be played. For the public to embrace the Republican revolution with enthusiasm, it is going to have to show that it is dedicated to making government work efficiently for the people, not profitably for the well-connected. by CNB