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Clinton's Pentagon Budget Likely To Draw GOP Fire

Bosnia, New Weaponry Spending are the Key Issues

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WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Feb. 6) -- President Bill Clinton's new budget for fiscal 1998 would trim the Defense Department's total expenditures by about $6.8 billion, and is likely to draw fire from Capitol Hill Republicans, according to Pentagon officials.

The proposed fiscal 1998 budget stands at $247.5 billion, or 2.67 percent less than the current year.

A Pentagon spokesman, who briefed reporters on condition he not be identified, predicted a battle in Congress over the defense budget because of the Bosnia proposal.

"Congress is not going to be amenable to this," the spokesman said.

The budget includes $2.2 billion for operations in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf during fiscal 1998. It also proposes, however, a supplemental $2 billion appropriation to cover added costs of the Bosnia operation and other military operations during 1997.

The request could trigger a review of Clinton's decision to keep U.S. troops in Bosnia through mid-1998.

cohen

Both Clinton and Defense Secretary William Cohen have talked about the need to maintain troops' quality of life, and the budget also calls for a 2.8 percent pay increase for the nation's 1.4 million active-duty troops. That figure remains constant.

The '98 budget may also draw congressional fire for not including enough for updated weaponry. It asks just $42.6 billion for modernization, far less than the $60 billion spending level preferred by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Last year, Congresses added $5.2 billion for modernizing weaponry, and that could happen again.

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told The Associated Press the overall spending plan was "inadequate for our security."


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