DoD: No Procurement Buildup

Setting the stage for a renewed congressional catfight on the FY98 defense budget when it is released next month, a senior Pentagon official says the FY98-2003 defense budget will not increase procurement as much as the administration has promised.

Speaking on background to CongressDaily, the official said the lower-than-expected procurement figures probably will subject the Pentagon to renewed criticism.

Last year, the administration's perceived lack of procurement funding was seized on by House Republican authorizers and appropriators as a major issue, with the result that about $11 billion was added to the FY97 budget.

If the senior Pentagon official's views are any indication, the legislators, primarily House National Security Chairman Floyd Spence, R-S.C., Military Procurement Subcommittee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla., will resume their attacks.

The current FY97-2001 long-range budget estimates there will be $45.5 billion in FY98 for procurement. "It's going to be a situation much like last year. It's better than last year, but not as good as we hoped it would be," the Pentagon official said.

Last year, the Pentagon took heat because its FY97 procurement number of $38.9 billion was $4.6 billion less than what the Pentagon anticipated in 1995 it would spend on the category. "I think it will be a disappointment for us. My guess is that we are going to be criticized for it," the official said. Aside from acknowledging the procurement problem, the official declined to give the specific figures.

The Clinton administration repeatedly has shifted money from procurement to readiness. Officials in 1994, 1995 and 1996 promised a procurement build-up, one that has yet to materialize.

The changing procurement plans anticipated for FY98 are illustrated by reviewing the previously reduced Clinton administration long-range procurement numbers.

The initial administration long-range defense budget for FY95 predicted $57.1 billion for procurement in 1998. Then the FY96 plan called for $51.4 billion. The current plan calls for $45.5 billion. It is this number and pace at which the administration increased procurement by 2000 that will draw heated, heavy scrutiny.