By Emelie Rutherford
Republican lawmakers decried yesterday defense program cuts and changes Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed when they were away from the Capitol during a two-week congressional recess.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), on the Senate floor said “we are heading down a dangerous road leading to the gutting of our military and settling for adequacy versus supremacy.”
Gates announced April 6 he is recommending to the White House a slew of programmatic changes in the fiscal year 2010 defense budget, which President Obama is expected to submit to Congress early next month. Lawmakers have pushed back on several of Gates’ proposals, including those to build no more than 187 F-22 fighter jets, eliminate the vehicle portion of the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, and cut the Missile Defense Agency by $1.4 billion.
Inhofe cited those three proposals, along with the defense secretary’s calls to buy no more C-17 cargo aircraft, terminate the Combat Search and Rescue X helicopter competition, halt planning for a next-generation bomber, and pare back long-term aircraft carrier plans.
Gates’ proposed budget “guarantees that the oldest military in the history of our nation will get even older and more expensive to maintain and operate,” Inhofe argued.
Inhofe angered Democrats by immediately denouncing Gates’ budget reductions on April 6 in a YouTube video aired from Afghanistan. The senator argued in the video the cuts would “disarm America” and “gut the military.”
He decried criticism of his comments yesterday, and argued his claim that the Obama administration’s first defense budget would be a decrease in Pentagon spending is correct when factoring for overall defense spending including war supplemental bills and other funds, not just the base Department of Defense budget.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters yesterday at the Capitol that Gates’ budget proposal “certainly raises some concerns.” He deferred detailed comments to Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), a SASC member who joined him at a press conference about their trip this month to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chambliss is an outspoken opponent of ending F-22 production at 187 fighter jets, which are built partly in his state. The Georgia senator said yesterday he is “not happy about” Gates’ F-22 plan and noted concerns about the FCS changes.
“I don’t think there’s anybody on the (Senate) Armed Services Committee who doesn’t agree with the (Defense) Secretary when he says we need changes in the acquisition process and that it can be improved, and that we need to make significant changes here,” Chambliss said. “But trying to change everything in the middle of the stream I’m not sure is the right way to go.”
Chambliss, still, acknowledged “we don’t have the money that all of us would like to have to spend on all these programs.” GOP aides said their bosses are still determining where the battle lines will fall regarding the defense budget debate.
“I think there’s going to be an awful lot of discussion between now and the time that budget comes forward, both from a standpoint of trying to figure out what the details in that budget are, and then secondly, what type of arguments are going to be made relative to (retention) of weapon systems that the various branches feel they need in spite of the secretary making a very closely held decision,” Chambliss said.
The Georgia senator also argued that some of Gates’ recommendations “fly in the face” of an extensive Pentagon acquisition-reform bill he supports that was sponsored by SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.). Asked to name an example, Chambliss said Gates’ call to produce F-35 Joint Strike Fighters while in they’re in the developmental stage does not jibe with the Levin-McCain legislation or a recommendation of the Government Accountability Office.
The White House, Senate, and House have agreed to a $533.7 billion ceiling for the FY ’10 base defense budget, which represents a 2 percent increase in real growth, after accounting for inflation, over the FY ’09 defense budget. Gates and the White House, notably, also are calling for shifting in the base budget some war funding previously covered in supplemental-spending bills.
Obama yesterday hailed Gates’ “historic budget” at the White House, after the first meeting of his cabinet, which included the defense secretary. Obama, in comments to reporters at the White House, said his administration expects to “follow-up” Gates’ recommendations “with additional procurement reform.”