J. Exon: “The Republican defense budget for 1997 is excessive in a time when we are desperately trying and seeking to balance the…”

“The Republican defense budget for 1997 is excessive in a time when we are desperately trying and seeking to balance the budget. This amendment would scale back the Republican overzealous $11.3 billion increase to the President's request but still provide a modest $3 billion increase to try to satisfy some, if not all, of the priorities that have been expressed in the Congress on both sides of the Hill. At a time when we are trying to balance the budget, such an exorbitant increase of $11-plus billion is uncalled for. We cannot return to an era of just throwing money at the defense problem at will, especially when the experts in the administration and the Pentagon have not requested it. This action recently taken by the defense authorizing committees, I think, demonstrates the point that I am trying to make. In the House National Security Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, the majority added $4 billion in procurement and R&D accounts that was neither in the Pentagon's 1997 request nor in the Pentagon's 5-year future years defense plan. That means that the authorizing committees approved $4 billion for programs that the Pentagon would never have bought even if it had had the money. The real issue, Mr. President, is not how much to give defense but how to distribute it over a 6-year timeframe. Both the Republican budget resolution and the President's request propose to spend $1.6 trillion--that is $1.6 trillion on defense between 1997 through the year 2002.”