Senator: Pentagon must make painful spending adjustments

With overseas military operations and the economy dominating federal spending for years to come, a senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee signaled Wednesday that the Defense Department's weapons accounts will likely be a bill payer for other priorities.

In a constrained budget environment, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who last week succeeded the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., as chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee, predicted the military will likely delay programs that are not "absolutely essential," reduce its purchase of military hardware and consider terminating dispensable programs.

"They're very painful adjustments" the Defense Department must make, Reed said at a breakfast with reporters.

He did not offer guidance on which programs should be targeted for cuts, beyond those laid out in the fiscal 2010 budget.

"I don't see a consensus now developing around any one system as we did last year, when the F-22 clearly was," said Reed, referring to the Pentagon's crusade to end production of the popular fighter jet at the 187 aircraft ordered. "That was the test case" of whether Congress could be fiscally responsible, he said.

Aside from money needed to cover war costs, Reed said funds that may have been intended for weapons programs will be needed to turn around the struggling economy and ultimately to pay down the federal debt.

"The bottom line is there is going to be significant pressure on defense budgets going forward," Reed said.

Given that pressure, Reed's first priority as chairman of the Seapower panel, which oversees Navy and Marine Corps programs, is to get shipbuilding costs under control.

But Reed, who spent years as chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, said he has not come up with a strategy to rein in the costs of ship programs.