Military to ask for $7 billion supplemental

The Army, Navy and Air Force will ask President-elect Bush after he is sworn in Jan. 20 for an extra $7 billion to see them through this fiscal year, defense officials told National Journal News Service Thursday.

The $7 billion, in the form of supplemental appropriations, would be added to nearly $310 billion Congress approved for FY2001, with the Army accounting for $2.9 billion of the total supplemental request; the Navy $2.2 billion and the Air Force $1.8 billion.

Although Bush and his deputies probably will have a chance to adjust those numbers before they formally present them to Congress, the armed forces will most likely challenge their new commander-in-chief shortly after his inauguration to make good on his campaign promise to get them more money.

President Clinton's farewell defense budget also will be up for review, and possibly fine-tuning, before it goes to Congress within the next several weeks. Congress may have no time for a massive overhaul of the FY2002 budget, which is expected to top this year's $310 billion mark.

Further complicating Bush's first budget actions affecting national defense are doubts about how much money he will have to distribute if his tax cuts are enacted.

Pentagon officials attributed the military's need for more money this year to the continued rapid tempo of operations-- requiring more expensive steaming and flying hours than budgeters funded--and the steadily escalating costs of keeping aging weapons in fighting condition.

Climbing personnel costs, notably for military health care, also are eating up more money than anticipated, officials said. The civilian heads of the individual services will have to wrestle with those and other budget problems for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, knowledgeable sources said Bush would nominate newly retired Rep. Tillie Fowler, R-Fla., who served on the House Armed Services Committee, as secretary of the Army.

The new Navy secretary is expected to be either Roger Staubach, former Dallas Cowboys football great and U. S. Naval Academy graduate, or Chase Untermeyer, a longtime Bush family friend. Untermeyer served as White House personnel director for Bush's father, former President Bush.

The Bush team has asked Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters to stay put for the present, according to Pentagon officials.