Thursday, February 22, 2001

By Lisa Burgess
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Without an emergency infusion of $6.7 billion, the U.S. military will face critical shortages in training and flying hours, force protection, aircraft and ship maintenance, and other vital areas between now and October, according to a group of U.S. lawmakers.

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a 22-year veteran of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, asked for $6.7 billion to pay for increased costs of military pay and housing, fuel, maintenance and other needs not covered in the budget.

Included in the $6.7 billion supplemental appropriations bill are:

• A total of $4.3 billion for things such as training and flying hours, force protection, aircraft and ship maintenance, and fuel-cost increases. This total includes $181 million for recruiting and retention costs; $869 million for flying-hour programs; $558 million for spare parts, $667 million for urgent aircraft and ship maintenance needs, including fully funding the repairs on the U.S.S. Cole.

• $110 million to offset the impact of energy price increases on military family housing.

• $1 billion for unanticipated health-care cost increases.

• $1 billion for pay and housing allowances.

• $405 million for pay increases mandated by the FY 2001 Defense Authorization Bill.

• $276 million for Basic Allowance for Housing, to fully fund the 2001 rates.

"The amounts included in this bill — slightly more than 2 percent of the defense budget — are only what is urgently needed to cover unexpected cost increases for the most basic needs of our servicemembers through the end of this fiscal year," Dicks said in a statement introducing the legislation on Feb. 13.

In the past, presidents usually ask for this mid-year funding. This year, however, President George W. Bush announced he will not ask for the money until Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld completes a review of the Pentagon’s strategy and programs.

Rumsfeld has not revealed a game plan for the review’s completion. In the meantime, however, the services are rapidly draining the last of their 2001 budget in several categories.

On Jan. 10, the service chiefs met privately with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss specific areas that will experience shortfalls if a supplemental appropriations bill is not passed.

The individual lists of service needs for 2001 were never made public; in fact, since the January visit, the services have been ordered by Rumsfeld not to speak about budget issues at all until the overall review is complete, a military source close to the process said.

"We have been given explicit direction to stand back and not get involved," one source said on condition of anonymity. "It’s been made clear to us that when the Bush administration wants our opinion about budget matters, they will let us know."

But the service chiefs have not gone unheard by Dicks, who used their lists as the basis for his bill, according to the congressman’s press secretary, George Behan.

"We put major pieces of their requests in the supplemental bill," Behan said.

Dicks decided not to include about $1 billion worth of the service requests because, in his judgment, those items were not "truly critical," Behan said.

In addition to Dicks, several other key members of Congress from defense-related committees have signed their names to the supplemental bill, including Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Ike Skelton, Mo.; Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-Va.; Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas; Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas; and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif.

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