DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070282

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  155 lines

CLINTON VETOES REGIONAL PROJECTS ``LINE-ITEM'' POWER USED TO CANCEL $27 MILLION IN MILITARY BUILDING

President Clinton canceled more than $27 million worth of military construction projects in and around Hampton Roads on Monday, including a major pier refurbishment at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and the building of a new operations facility at the Norfolk Naval Air Station.

Three local projects, shepherded through Congress last month by area representatives, were among almost $287 million worth of construction programs axed by Clinton in his most extensive use to date of his new ``line-item'' veto power.

``These are tough calls, involving real money and hard choices,'' Clinton said of his decisions. The action ``makes clear the old rules (regarding such appropriations) have, in fact, changed.''

The veto package was ``a cheap shot at our military and I intend to fight it,'' retorted U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Virginia Beach Democrat.

Traditionally, Congress has added dozens of projects to the Pentagon's annual construction program, with the largest chunks of money going to projects in the districts of lawmakers on committees that review the military budget.

Clinton left a total of 417 projects, valued at $8.9 billion, untouched. Some $185 million of those are in Hampton Roads, including $34.6 million to continue work on the new Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, $22.1 million for new fuel tanks at the Craney Island fuel depot, and almost $21 million for a new bachelor enlisted quarters at Oceana Naval Air Station.

Area lawmakers who had championed the vetoed projects were chagrined at what they called Clinton's failure to consult them or the Navy.

``Nobody asked a question. That's what's so irritating,'' fumed U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-4th District.

A $19.9 million pier refurbishment at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth was the largest single veto on Clinton's list of 38 canceled projects. Sisisky, the project's congressional protector, was furious with the president and said he plans to confer with colleagues about a possible attempt to override the veto.

An override would require the vote of a two-thirds majority in each house.

``I talked to the White House. I told 'em I'm madder than hell,'' Sisisky said. His only warning of a veto came around noon Monday, 90 minutes before the decisions were announced, in a call from the White House, he said.

The pier improvements have been a project for Sisisky for several years. They had been reviewed in public hearings by committees in both houses of Congress, and Sisisky led then-Deputy Secretary of Defense John White on an inspection tour of the site last year to underscore the need for the work.

``It wasn't one of those things added on in the middle of the night,'' Sisisky said.

Sisisky said the work ``will save money'' and ``doesn't build anything.'' The money would have paid to demolish a pair of dilapidated buildings near the yard's Pier 3, demolish and fill two former shipbuilding ways - unused since 1953 - and construct a berthing space large enough to fit two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

All the improvements are in the Navy's long-range building program, which calls for construction in 2001 or 2002, Sisisky said. By going ahead with them now, he hoped to help the service beat inflationary cost increases and make better use of the yard, Sisisky said.

The $4 million Norfolk Naval Air Station operations building vetoed by Clinton would have included an air-traffic control facility and radar tower, and the demolition of an existing operations building.

Pickett said the radar at the base is unreliable. Had Clinton's staff asked, he could have provided ample documentation of the need for a new facility, the congressman said.

``We shouldn't wait until something serious happens to get these things done,'' Pickett said.

While Clinton vetoed the air facility, a Pickett-sponsored effort to secure just over $2 million for a new chapel at Fort Story in Virginia Beach was successful. The chapel had been considered a prime veto target before Clinton's decisions were announced.

The third area project vetoed was a $3.3 million new storage magazine for Tomahawk missiles at the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown. Rep. Herbert H. Bateman, R-1st District, its principal sponsor, said he pressed for it after a request from Navy officials.

Bateman said his Navy sources have told him that some Tomahawk missiles at Yorktown must be stored in outdated igloo-style buildings designed for other uses.

Clinton received the veto authority, sought by presidents for decades, on Jan. 1. It allows him to block selected portions of spending bills without changing the overall legislation.

Clinton said projects vetoed Monday were selected because he did not include them in his original budget request; design work had not been completed, so the projects probably would not have been constructed this fiscal year; or the projects would provide no ``substantial contribution'' to improving the lives of U.S. troops.

But area lawmakers said plans for at least some of the vetoed local facilities were complete, or nearly so, and work could have proceeded quickly had Clinton approved.

The canceling of the projects marked the second use of the line-item veto. Clinton used the power in August to remove items from two bills to trim taxes and balance the federal budget by 2002.

Additional vetoes are expected as Clinton receives and reviews other appropriations bills for 1998, including the $247.5 billion defense budget.

With lawmakers threatening to file legal challenges against Clinton's use of the line-item veto, presidential press secretary Mike McCurry said: ``The president has been very prudent, cautious and constitutional.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics

VETOED

Using his ``line-item'' veto power, President Clinton canceled

more than $27 million worth of military construction projects in and

around Hampton Roads, including:

* $19.9 million, pier refurbishment, Norfolk Naval Shipyard,

Portsmouth.

* $4 million, air operations building, Norfolk Naval Air Station.

* $3.3 million, Tomahawk missile magazine, Yorktown Naval Weapons

Station.

APPROVED

Some $185 million of military construction in the area was left

untouched, including:

* $34.6 million to continue work on the new Portsmouth Naval

Medical Center.

* $22.1 million for new fuel tanks at the Craney Island fuel

depot.

* Almost $21 million for a new bachelor enlisted quarters at

Oceana Naval Air Station.

See page A10 for a complete list

PROJECTS

Local military construction:

APPROVED

$2 million, post chapel, Fort Story, Virginia Beach.

$7 million, renovation, bachelor enlisted quarters, Fleet Combat

Training Center, Dam Neck.

$8.7 million, LCAC complex, Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base,

Virginia Beach.

$14.2 million, air passenger terminal, Norfolk Naval Air Station.

$13.5 million, berthing pier, Norfolk Naval Station.

$12.8 million, deperming piers, Norfolk Naval Station.

$6.1 million, consolidated support center, Norfolk Naval Station.

$9.5 million, oily waste collection system, Norfolk Naval Base.

$2.1 million, control tower, Oceana Naval Air Station, Virginia

Beach.

$20.9 million, bachelor enlisted quarters replacement, Oceana.

$5 million, jet engine test cell, Oceana Naval Air Station

$5.4 million, gymnasium, Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.

$4 million, fire station, Langley Air Force Base, Hampton.

$12.8 million, Defense Finance Accounting Service, regional

center, Norfolk.

$22.1 million, replace fuel tanks, Craney Island depot,

Portsmouth.

$16.6 million, replace warehouse, Defense Distribution Depot,

Norfolk.

$34.6 million, continue replacement of Portsmouth Naval Medical

Center.

VETOED

$19.9 million, pier refurbishment, Norfolk Naval Shipyard,

Portsmouth.

$4 million, air operations building, Norfolk Naval Air Station.

$3.3 million, Tomahawk missile magazine, Yorktown Naval Weapons

Station.

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