Military services tell lawmaker of additional funding needs

As the House and Senate Budget committees prepare to trim the Pentagon's $401.7 billion fiscal 2005 budget in their impending budget resolutions, the military services have told one lawmaker the Bush administration underfunds more than $12.2 billion in programs in the upcoming fiscal year.

House Armed Services ranking member Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said the services' unfunded requirements, which the lawmaker made public Friday, "urgently demonstrate why Congress must not make further cuts to the defense budget." Skelton asked the services to detail priority programs and requirements not included in the Bush budget shortly after it was submitted Feb. 2 to Congress.

Skelton said the lists show that the Defense Department's proposed spending plan omits $2 billion for Army programs, including $900 million needed to add armor protection to Humvees and other vehicles.

Among the other military requirements absent from the budget are funding for M4 carbines to equip Marines deployed in forward areas, "some of whom are only armed with pistols," Skelton said in a statement. In addition, the Navy lacks $23 million for improved intelligence capabilities and linguists.

The services' combined shortfalls include $6 billion for the Army, $2.5 billion for the Navy, $2.4 billion for the Air Force and $1.3 billion for the Marine Corps.

Skelton said he was concerned that the House Budget Committee may trim 0.5 percent from fiscal 2005 defense spending levels when it marks up a budget resolution next week. He said cutting the budget during wartime would be a mistake.

"With our troops engaged in large operations and on the frontline in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now perhaps Haiti, now is not the time to cut the defense budget," he said.

In a Feb. 24 letter to Skelton that accompanied the Marine Corps' unfunded requirements list, Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee said the president's budget provides more money for investment and transformational programs, but that given the ongoing fight against terrorism and renewed operations in Iraq, their resources are stretched in many areas.

"In addition, the road to attaining our shipbuilding and aircraft procurement program goals remains exceptionally challenging," Hagee wrote.

Air Force Secretary James Roche, in a Feb. 17 memo to Skelton, said the budget assures a foundation to continue the war against terrorism, maintain readiness, improve infrastructure and transform joint capabilities.

"With this understanding, I am forwarding a $2.4 billion list of unfunded programs that could be added to our budget request and that would support the goals I outlined above," Roche wrote.