The Growing Pentagon Budget

EXECUTIVE MEMO

The Growing Pentagon Budget

n a fit of generosity, Congress is providing some $10 billion to $12 billion more than the $254.3 billion the Pentagon requested for fiscal 1997. The largesse is directed at weapons programs.

But the added funding may create more problems for the Pentagon. As the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments noted in a review of the House and Senate appropriations and authorization bills, "Because the authorization and appropriations bills would not only add more funding, but also expand plans, the additions included in the bills are unlikely to close the existing gap between Defense plans and projected funding levels.

"Indeed, by committing DoD to a set of expanded weapon programs, the increases may well exacerbate pressures for additional funding in future years," the nonprofit, non-partisan think tank concluded. The department is plagued by a serious mismatch between projected funding and plans, and the fiscal 1997 budget may exacerbate the problem. But most Members of Congress aren't looking much past 1996.

This year, Congress is continuing its practice of using the Defense authorization bill as the vehicle for reforming government. Last year, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act and the Information Technology Management Reform Act were enacted as part of the Defense bill. This year's government-wide improvement initiative is called the Travel Reform and Savings Act; it deals principally with agencies' coverage of employees' relocation expenses.