House, Senate panels set to take up defense issues
Issues on the table this week include the overall size of military forces and the 2005 round of base closures.
The House and Senate Armed Services committees will mark up the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill this week, tackling issues ranging from military end-strength and equipment for troops in Iraq to base closure and missile defense.
House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is expected to come out strong on force protection for soldiers and will include a minimum of $20 billion in supplemental funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The committee will also increase active-duty Army and Marine Corps end-strength by nearly 40,000 over the next three years. In addition, Hunter will call for more money for active-duty military personnel, with family separation and imminent danger pay for soldiers overseas expected to be increased.
More benefits for National Guard and reserve members are also anticipated.
It is unclear whether Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., will pursue similar legislation on military troop levels and supplemental funding, although Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., have urged a permanent increase of 30,000 soldiers to Army troop levels.
With the 2005 round of base closures looming, both chambers are expected to wrestle with proposals to delay or kill the process. House Democrats and Republicans are already proposing changes to the Pentagon's criteria for selecting which bases are closed, and some have proposed stalling the effort for two years.
Senate committee members have been relatively quiet on base closure and realignment, although observers suggest there could be some breaks in ranks among Republicans who have generally supported the Pentagon's base closure plan. While Warner and Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., back the upcoming base closure round, some Republican members, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, have expressed concern about the wisdom of closing bases in the midst of a war on terrorism.
And many Democrats in both chambers are likely to remain loyal to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who said upon election he would delay appointing a base realignment and closure commission until a new Defense secretary can complete a review of the country's force structure.