Dan Coats: “I rise to question the Department of Defense's recent assertion that the Senate Armed Service Committee authorization…”

“I rise to question the Department of Defense's recent assertion that the Senate Armed Service Committee authorization for fiscal year 1997 will create huge costs in years to come. This information has come somewhat as a surprise, since the Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed the committee's fiscal year 1997 authorization and found no additional spending attributed to the committee's decision. And so we have somewhat of a disconnect here between the assertions of the Department and the CBO analysis of the committee's action. When Secretary Perry, Deputy Secretary White, and General Shalikashvili met with the Armed Services Committee members last week, Under Secretary White asserted that the funding additions the committee made to the budget request created a $25 billion additional cost in the Future Years Defense Program. The estimate has since been refined down to $20 billion. But since neither Secretary White nor the Comptroller, John Hamre, was able to explain at the time how such additional costs might be incurred, Senator Nunn asked that a report be provided to the committee to explain the rationale and analysis that led to their conclusion.”