No lessons learned from Soviet collapse because of excessive military expenditures

U.S. Senate passes huge Pentagon budget

ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a huge $459-billion budget for the Pentagon Wednesday, after adding almost $4-billion to try to gain control over the U.S. border with Mexico.

The Pentagon spending bill, passed by voice vote, does not include President Bush's almost $190-billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill does, however, award the Pentagon a 10 per cent increase of $43-billion, much of which would be devoted to procuring new and expensive weapons systems.

Some $3-billion in emergency border security money was already included in a spending bill for the Homeland Security Department but was added to the Pentagon spending measure in a gambit by GOP leaders to save President George W. Bush from an embarrassing override of his planned veto of the Homeland Security measure. Another $794-million was added to maintain a large National Guard deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The border security spending, especially money to construct 700 miles of fencing to keep illegal immigrants from Mexico from crossing into the United States, is so popular among Republicans that they would vote to override Mr. Bush's homeland security veto if necessary to obtain financing for the fence.

The border money was added to the Pentagon bill by a 95-1 vote.

Loss of an override vote would be a major embarrassment as Mr. Bush battles with Congress over the 12 appropriations bills funding the government for the budget year that began on Monday.

Mr. Bush vowed to veto the homeland security bill because it exceeds his budget by more than $2-billion, even without the border spending. He is spoiling for a fight with Democrats over $22-billion that they've added to his budget, all for domestic programs.

A companion defence measure passed the House in August. It now heads to House-Senate talks, but there is widespread speculation that the bill will be held back in order to carry other spending bills after they've been vetoed by Mr. Bush.

Democrats touted funding increases in the defence measure for National Guard equipment, military health care and a 3.5 per cent pay increase for military personnel, half a percentage point more than requested by Mr. Bush.

The measure also mostly grants Mr. Bush's almost $100-billion request to purchase new weapons such as V-22 tilt rotor aircraft, unmanned drone aircraft, next generation Joint Strike Fighters and the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which has been beset by cost overruns.

The measure also includes $8.5-billion to continue work on a ballistic missile defence system.

It also contains $140-billion for operations and maintenance accounts.

Democrats have shown little inclination to curb spending on major weapons systems despite criticism that many of them are designed to cope with past enemies rather than those U.S. troops are now fighting.

The overall budget for procurement is $17-billion higher than last year and promises to continue to grow. The Pentagon's overall budget, even adjusted for inflation, is more than 20 per cent higher than the average Cold War budget and has gone up more than 40 per cent since Sept. 11, 2001.

The bill also contains more than 900 pet projects — totalling $5.2-billion — sought by senators, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group based in Washington that opposes such “earmarks.”

On border security, the White House has signalled Mr. Bush will accept the additional $3-billion, even though it also exceeds his budget. The White House initially resisted using deficit dollars to finance the initiative, GOP lawmakers said, but backed off in the face of overwhelming support for the idea.

GOP leaders now hope rank-and-file Republicans could support a veto of the homeland security bill since the funding is also attached to the defence measure, which Mr. Bush supports. House GOP leaders asked Senate Republicans to embrace the unusual move, acknowledged Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, a budget hawk, was the single “nay” vote against adding the border money to the Pentagon bill.

The border security funding had been included in Mr. Bush's broader immigration reform bill that collapsed in June. His proposal was to be financed by fines and fees on illegal immigrants.

The money approved Wednesday would go toward seizing “operational control” over the U.S.-Mexico border by using additional Border Patrol agents, vehicle barriers, border fencing and observation towers. It would also be used to pursue immigrants who had entered the United States legally but overstayed their visas.

“This $3-billion will accomplish that and will help fully fund an operationally secure border,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. “That is the first step to effective immigration reform, having a border that we know is secure.”

Later Wednesday, senators approved an amendment by Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., adding $794-million more to maintain a deployment through 2008 of up to 6,000 National Guard troops along the border with Mexico.

Sessions said the Pentagon plans to maintain only a troop level of 3,000 but argued the presence of more National Guard troops would free up more Border Patrol agents to police the border.

Original article posted here.