[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3787-H3788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1745
                 BUDGET SHORTFALL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, a couple of days ago I announced, along with 
the chairman of the Committee on National Security, that we were going 
to address a shortfall in funding under the Clinton administration 
budget that seriously impeded the capability of our pilots to operate 
their aircraft effectively and safely. That was done on the heels of 
the hearing in which we talked about the three, now four, F-14 crashes 
since the first of January and the three

[[Page H3788]]

AV-8B Harrier Marine Corps jet aircraft crashes since the first of 
January.
  We talked about the fact that the Clinton administration is not going 
to spend the money to make the safety upgrades to 24 of the Marine 
aircraft that are going to be piloted by young Americans. The chairman 
of the full committee, my friend Floyd Spence and I made the decision 
that we would commit to spend the money that was necessary to upgrade 
those aircraft so that they are 50 percent safer than they would 
otherwise be, and we also made the commitment to make the $83 million 
in safety upgrades to the F-14 aircraft.
  It was an indication to me, Mr. Speaker, that the Clinton 
administration's defense budget, which has been slashed in excess of 
$150 billion below the budget put together by Dick Cheney and Chairman 
of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell, it was another indication to me that 
this budget is coming apart at the seams.
  Today I have the duty of reporting to my colleagues and to the 
American people that there is another indicator that the Clinton 
defense budget is coming apart at the seams. That indicator is that we 
now have examined the ammunition supplies that the U.S. Marine Corps 
will depend on in the two major regional conflict scenarios. That means 
if they should get involved in a conflict in the Middle East and at the 
same time be involved in a conflict on the Korean peninsula, would they 
have the ammunition to carry out both of those operations, which is a 
requirement that the President of the United States has told the 
American people the Marines will be able to meet.
  The answer, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately is no. The Marines do not have 
the basic ammunition load necessary to carry out two major regional 
contingencies. Their ammo pouches in those contingencies will at some 
point be empty, and they will be empty because the Clinton 
administration is not willing to spend the money to put that ammo in 
their ammo pouches.
  I have received now from the Marines a list of ammo that they need to 
be able to fight those contingencies for the American people, and that 
ammo list comes to $369 million. I have talked this over with the 
chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from South Carolina, 
Floyd Spence, and we have agreed that we are going to commit today to 
fund that full ammunition load for the U.S. Marine Corps.
  It makes no sense, and it certainly is greatly lacking in compassion 
and consideration for our military people to suit them up and move them 
around the world to project American power and protect American 
interests and freedom, and not give them the doggone ammunition that 
they need to get the job done.
  So once again the Clinton defense budget has come up this time $369 
million short in the area of ammunition. We were first apprised of this 
when we saw the GAO report, the initial informal report that said that 
the Marines did not have the ammo to fight two wars. We examined it. We 
talked to people. We finally got the list of exactly what they need to 
have full ammunition pouches.
  So the Republicans are riding to the rescue of America's fighting 
people. We are going to see to it that they have the right equipment 
and the right ammunition to get the job done, and we are committing 
today to spend the money that is necessary to do that.

                          ____________________