Defense Spending

SAN DIEGO -- Even war on the horizon cannot stop the "de-Reaganizing" of the U.S. defense budget as it continues to recede from the hefty levels of the early and mid-1980s, defense electronics officials say.By the year 2000, defense spending will decline by one-third and dip even below pre-World War II levels in terms of share of the gross national product, the Electronic Industries Association said yesterday in an annual 10-year market forecast of the...

There's a tendency among some to shorthand the ongoing federal budget debate as between Republicans who want to reduce government spending and Democrats who don't. This isn't really the case, as recent actions in the House have demonstrated. On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee took a close look at President Barack Obama's proposed $525.4 billion defense spending plan and decided that simply wasn't enough. The GOP-controlled committee voted to authorize nearly $4 billion more than what the Pentagon had requested for 2013.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton, trying to make up for shortfalls that have left three Army divisions unready for battle and sparked criticism that the Pentagon budget had been cut too much, announced yesterday that he wants $27 billion more in defense spending.At a Rose Garden appearance, the president cited a congressionally mandated pay raise for the troops, and unexpected crises in Haiti, Cuba, Bosnia and the Persian Gulf, as the reasons for requesting the increase, which would come over the next six fiscal years.

One of the memorable slogans from the Reagan administration was "peace through strength. " President Ronald Reagan believed a strong defense was a safeguard against enemy attacks and the best hope of victory should America go to war. President Barack Obama is taking the opposite approach. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced cuts in defense spending of $487 billion over the next 10 years. Supposedly, these cuts will reduce the federal deficit, but Congress always finds new ways to spend money, so I am not optimistic.

WASHINGTON -- Facing a tumultuous fall term that could have the government perched for months on the brink of shutting down, the Senate raced through its summer business yesterday hoping to begin a three-week recess after today.The senators moved last night toward approval of a $243 billion ** spending bill to finance the Pentagon next year. The bill, which is expected to pass this morning, represents a $1 billion increase over last year's defense spending and a $6.4 billion boost over what President Clinton had requested.

These are difficult times for our economy, and Americans want Congress to act now to develop a credible budget plan that will ensure our nation's future growth and prosperity. It's not an easy task, but it is one around which all of us — Democrats, Republicans, independents — must come together as a nation if we are going to deal with our budget deficit. Recently, I gave a speech on the U.S. Senate floor outlining what I believe it will take to get control of our deficit while also ensuring our economic recovery and future prosperity.

WASHINGTON -- Setting up an election-year confrontation with President Clinton, the House yesterday passed a $267 billion defense authorization bill loaded with such hot-button provisions as a revival of the ban on homosexuals in the military, a requirement to discharge HIV-infected service personnel and a prohibition on the sale of "sexually explicit" magazines at base stores.The White House said that Clinton would veto the bill unless it is toned down in the Senate.The bill, approved by a 272-153 vote that largely followed party lines, adds $13 billion to Clinton's budget request for the Defense Department, most of it for additional aircraft, ships, submarines, tanks and precision-guided munitions that the Pentagon says are not needed, at least not now.The Senate version of the bill, approved earlier this month by the Armed Services Committee, also authorizes $267 billion in spending, but it either rejects or ignores most of the controversial social issues contained in the House measure.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration unveiled yesterday a $242.6 billion Pentagon budget for fiscal 1997 that calls for further cuts in defense spending, despite charges by critics that it is mortgaging future preparedness by paring money for modernizing weapons and equipment.The spending plan for the year beginning Oct. 1 would continue the long-range defense cuts that Mr. Clinton had been planning before congressional Republicans increased military spending in fiscal 1996 -- delaying any further growth, except to cover inflation, until after the year 2000.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon next year could see the largest budget increase since the Reagan military buildup of the 1980s, with Republican leaders in Congress pressing to at least double the amount being considered by the Clinton administration.Both sides see the need to offer sharp increases over this year's budget to resolve what military chiefs see as "serious wear" on the armed forces, which face a rising number of overseas missions with aging equipment and inadequate pay and benefits.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton formally asked Congress yesterday for more than $6 billion to pay for the air war over Yugoslavia, triggering what will likely be a divisive debate over defense spending and the combat readiness of a U.S. military that is deployed around the world.The budget request would finance the cost of the air war, pay for humanitarian relief and help shore up the delicate economies and political systems of neighboring countries in the Balkan region, from Albania to Bulgaria.

While President Barack Obama described plans Thursday to make the U.S. military "leaner," officials in Maryland said the focus of installations and defense contractors here on intelligence, cyberwarfare, research and development is likely to protect the state from the deep cuts feared elsewhere. The defense strategy the president unveiled calls for bolstering the U.S. military presence in the Asian-Pacific region and increasing investment in NATO and other partnerships as the United States pulls troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

At 68, Roy Hilton still enjoys fooling people. "They come up to me and think I'm an old basketball player. I like that," said Hilton, who, at 6-foot-6, was one of the tallest Baltimore Colts of his day. He fooled people in other ways, back then. The Colts' 15th round draft pick in 1965, Hilton surprised everyone by making the team at defensive end and lasting 11 years in the NFL. And in Baltimore's 16-13 victory in Super Bowl V, he surprised Dallas by roaring past its All-Pro tackle, Ralph Neely, and sacking Cowboys' quarterback Craig Morton twice before halftime.

A massive, $662 billion defense measure that authorizes hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on Maryland's military facilities cleared a final vote in the Senate Thursday and now heads to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it into law. The bill, which divided Democrats and Republicans in Maryland's congressional delegation, includes more than $108 million for projects at Fort Meade and an additional $101 million for Aberdeen Proving...

Marylanders from nearly every walk of life could be affected by across-the-board budget cuts starting in 2013 as a result of the congressional supercommittee's failure to reach an agreement to trim the nation's spiraling budget deficits. After months of secret talks, the 12-member panel formally pulled the plug Monday on its mission to identify $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over 10 years. Unless changed by Congress, the outcome will cause automatic reductions that would be particularly painful for Maryland, where the federal government spent $96 billion last year.

The congressional "super committee" charged with mitigating large defense cuts has been silent, but Northrop Grumman and other defense contractors aren't waiting to find out what's going to happen. They're already downsizing. Last week, Northrop's Linthicum-based Electronic Systems division said it would trim 800 jobs, most of them in Maryland. That's on top of 500 jobs eliminated in the division earlier this year. Those two steps easily represent $100 million sucked out of the state's economy, and it's only a portion of the overall, continuing defense shrinkage.

General Physics Corp. had already built a strong business training police and fire departments in the use of emergency equipment. But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the doors of opportunity opened even wider. The attacks focused officials at all levels of government on homeland security, and federal money to support it become plentiful. Protecting against terrorist attacks became a high priority for municipalities and federal grants to support the effort became plentiful.

Dan Rodricks proposes to cut defense spending almost by half, but says he also wants our troops to have the technology they need. ("Austerity measures must apply to the Pentagon, too" Aug. 11). Like so many advocates of reckless defense cuts, he provides no specifics about how we could possibly accomplish these contradictory objectives. Defense spending didn't dig us into this hole and we shouldn't look to it to dig us out. Defense spending shrunk by more than half as a share of the budget since 1970, while spending on entitlements more than doubled.

While President Barack Obama described plans Thursday to make the U.S. military "leaner," officials in Maryland said the focus of installations and defense contractors here on intelligence, cyberwarfare, research and development is likely to protect the state from the deep cuts feared elsewhere. The defense strategy the president unveiled calls for bolstering the U.S. military presence in the Asian-Pacific region and increasing investment in NATO and other partnerships as the United States pulls troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dan Rodricks proposes to cut defense spending almost by half, but says he also wants our troops to have the technology they need. ("Austerity measures must apply to the Pentagon, too" Aug. 11). Like so many advocates of reckless defense cuts, he provides no specifics about how we could possibly accomplish these contradictory objectives. Defense spending didn't dig us into this hole and we shouldn't look to it to dig us out. Defense spending shrunk by more than half as a share of the budget since 1970, while spending on entitlements more than doubled.

Two weeks ago, in a column titled "Budget Deal Marks End of Maryland's Federal Spree," I said this state's economic spark plug was about to misfire. The end of two wars and Congress' discovery that budget deficits can't go on forever, I said, will significantly diminish the anti-terror and defense spending that kept Maryland ahead of other states since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (For fiscal 2009, defense spending in Maryland, which has been profiting from wars for 70 years, was $18.5 billion.)