Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 21, 1990 TAG: 9004210096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
He also proposed slowing the deployment of rail-based MX nuclear missiles and warned that the B-2 bomber program "must be made more affordable" in order to obtain continued funding from Congress.
Nunn's proposals set him on a collision course not only with the administration but with congressional budget committees, which have called for larger defense cuts.
"Many in the Senate will not agree with all the specific reductions I suggest," Nunn, D-Ga., said in a Senate speech. "But it is time for the debate to begin."
It was the fourth speech in which Nunn, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has tried to outline a post-Cold War military strategy for the United States.
On Thursday, he called for much deeper reductions in troop and ship levels than those advocated by the president. And less than 24 hours later, he challenged the president to reduce defense spending authority in the next fiscal year to between $289 billion and $291 billion.
He said his proposed cuts would save as much as $255 billion during the next five years.
He also proposed that defense outlays in 1991 be cut between $9 billion and $10 billion, triggering an estimated savings of $190 billion in outlays during the next five years.
"Budget authority" refers to the amount of money that a program may obligate. Authority is often held over from year to year to accommodate lags in production. "Outlays" are the amount that a program is actually expected to spend during the fiscal year.
The administration's proposed Pentagon budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 totals $306.9 billion, although Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has identified possible savings that could bring it down to $303 billion.
Republican and Democratic leaders agree on the need for deep military cuts, but Nunn's proposal would give the Pentagon about $10 billion more than Senate Budget Committee Chairman Jim Sasser, D-Tenn., has suggested and nearly $8 billion more than the House Budget Committee approved Thursday.
Nunn said his figures are "consistent with the reduced threat" from the Soviet Union.
The senator recommended that funding for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) be spared any cuts provided it is "redirected into a coherent and research program" based "on a sensible plan and not on political rhetoric."
Congress approved about $3.8 billion for the antimissile shield in 1990's $296 billion defense budget. It was the first reduction in the program in six years.
by CNB