The head of a powerful committee vowed yesterday to fight defense budget cuts already set by Congress and boost funding for weapons programs including Navy ships.
Just weeks before the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will write its version of the Pentagon policy bill, Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) outlined his military priorities yesterday during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. He described a “three-pillared philosophy towards revitalizing our military forces,” intended to reverse $487 billion in longterm cuts imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, prevent roughly $500 billion more in “sequestration” reductions, and “restore and rebuild” the military.
“We should ask ourselves, will this be the moment, right now, when America abandoned its special role in the world, and transformed itself from a superpower to a regional power?” he asked yesterday. Arguing he will “not be complicit in the dismantling of the Reagan military,” he said if the entire defense budget is cut the nation would still have a “massive deficit” because of entitlement programs.
McKeon has been fighting to prevent the sequestration cuts, which will likely start in January unless Congress crafts a plan to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit. He touted yesterday anti-sequestration legislation he crafted, which would prevent the first year of those cuts through federal-workforce reductions.
The HASC chairman further called for undoing the first round of 10-year defense cuts brought by the Budget Control Act, which the Pentagon says amount to a $487 billion reduction to its planned spending.
“One of my top priorities is getting that half a trillion dollars back,” he said.
“We’re past cutting the fat and past the muscle, now we’re cutting into the bone,” he said. “Less than 20 percent of our federal spending goes to defense. But 50 percent of our deficit reductions have come from defense. The consequences are being felt.”
McKeon lamented that President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget request, in line with spending caps in the Budget Control Act, cuts $43 billion in spending. He cited concerns about Navy ship and Air Force cargo plane reductions, saying the nation must invest in the two services’ modernization if the administration truly wants to enhance the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific.
“We will seek to modernize airlift capabilities, including C-130s and C-5s that predate the Reagan administration,” McKeon said. “We will try to hold back cuts to the Navy’s cruiser force, finding the money for our cruisers to undergo proper upgrades, instead of mothballing vital ships needed to sustain the shift to Asia before hos ships reach the end of their lifespan.”
McKeon emphasized his intention to invest in upgrading existing equipment, calling for an end to “this unofficial procurement holiday and get our forces the tools they need to win the current war, and deter future wars.”
“That means repairing and replacing equipment that was lost and damaged in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
McKeon said the HASC’s FY ’13 defense authorization bill will “reflect appropriate resourcing” for items including bunker-buster munitions, mine countermeasures, and sensor and intelligence platforms. The legislation the panel will mark up in early May will “focus heavily” on countering anti-access systems that Iran and China could use.
He further called for “holding the administration accountable” on pledges regarding modernizing the nuclear deterrent, and for allocating for “contingencies like Iran.”