THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Officially, President Clinton's proposed defense budget for fiscal 1997 would enable the United States to fight two wars simultaneously. Expert opinion tends to the view that the proposed $243 billion in spending would not buy the nation enough personnel, weaponry and materiel to wage two wars. Other critics say preparing for two wars is, well, overkill.
Which critics are more right is anyone's guess. But the world is, as always, perilous. The volatile Russia that is the residue of the vanished Soviet empire still bristles with missiles. Communist China recently rattled its sabers at non-Communist China across the Taiwan Strait. Outlaw regimes sponsor terrorism wherever it suits them.
New York. And only the United States could have led the multinational diplomatic, economic and military offensive that denied Saddam Hussein dominion over the lion's share of proven oil reserves. Had Iraq's aggression against Kuwait not been rolled back, an oil-richer Saddam could have plunged the world economy into turmoil by manipulating oil prices.
So the United States, which is involved everywhere on Earth, must remain strong militarily and wrestle with the question of how much to spend on defense.
Sen. Strom Thurmond, the 92-year-old South Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, prophesies that the GOP-controlled Congress (which voted $7 billion more for the Pentagon in fiscal 1996 than Mr. Clinton requested) will add $14 billion to the $243 billion the president proposes. That's too much when president and Congress alike are formally committed to balancing the federal budget within seven years.
The $7 billion extra for fiscal 1996 smelled more of pork than defense, mocking congressional Republicans' vow to mend Washington's wasteful ways if they captured Capitol Hill. Throwing $14 billion more at the Pentagon in 1997 than Mr. Clinton seeks would double the offense.
The Clinton budget would support 10 active-duty Army divisions, four Marine Corps divisions, 357 ships and 20 Air Force fighter wings. It would raise military-personnel pay 3 percent after a string of lesser annual pay increases.
The raise is warranted, as are other attentions in the budget to the well-being of military personnel and their families; notably, money to replace or renovate 6,400 family-housing units and 42 barracks.
At the same time, Mr. Clinton would further shrink personnel; the 1.4 million uniformed men and women the budget projects for 1997 would be 25,000 fewer than this year. Additionally, the civilian-employee force also would dwindle further.
Hampton Roads has been spared the harshest consequences of defense downsizing because the Navy is concentrating within this region personnel, ships, aircraft and assorted activities that survive base realignments and closings elsewhere.
The Clinton budget would not harm the regional economy, even though it doesn't provide for preliminary work on the last of a dozen Nimitz-class supercarriers, which only Newport News Shipbuilding constructs. But the budget does designate $2.6 billion for a dozen Navy F-12E ``Super Hornet'' fighters, for which Oceana Naval Air Station is the main East Coast base.
The prudent course is to keep defense strong while pursuing a balanced federal budget. That requires cutting force levels slowly while improving war-making technology. The Clinton budget steers this course. Its mix seems about right. by CNB