[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 10 (Tuesday, February 8, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H222]]
                U.S. MILITARY READINESS: A DEEP CONCERN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Stearns) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President released his budget 
for fiscal year 2001, and with that begins another round of 
authorizations and appropriations.
  This afternoon what I want to do is focus on the issue of military 
readiness, a concept which the administration, until recently, has 
failed to embrace. In fact, the President has consistently proposed 
defense budgets which were completely inadequate.
  I am happy to see that the President has proposed a $11.3 billion 
increase in discretionary defense spending in recognition of the 
deplorable circumstances with which this administration has allowed our 
forces to deteriorate.
  Since the end of the Cold War, the United States military has been 
forced to do more with less. The defense budget has decreased by 8 
percent, or $24 billion, since 1990, and is the only major spending 
category to steadily decline since 1994. In contrast, the non-
discretionary spending and entitlements have increased nearly 60 
percent, or $458 billion.
  Despite the reduced spending and force reductions, the pace of 
operations, other than war, has increased dramatically. Our forces are 
engaged in humanitarian, peacekeeping, civil assistance, and other 
areas of non-combat operations. In addition, the United States 
continues to engage in combat operations over Iraq and the conflict in 
former Yugoslovia. In terms of commitments abroad, the United States 
has about 260,000 personnel in over 100 countries, according to the 
Department of Defense.
  The Clinton administration has pursued a military policy of open-
ended commitments to operations which have had no bearing on our 
national security at home or abroad. U.S. military forces have been 
deployed more times under this administration than they were throughout 
the entire Cold War period.
  This pace and scope of non-combat operations, the time away from 
family, and substandard pay and benefits have led to recruitment and 
retention problems. In fact, the Marine Corps was the only service to 
meet its recruiting requirements for 1999. Our forces are now coping 
with the inability to recruit highly qualified individuals, while at 
the same time losing the most experienced soldiers. My office has 
received letters from constituents, many of whom having proudly served 
in our Armed Forces, saying they were inclined to discourage young 
Americans from joining today's military force.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a demoralizing statement to hear. To add further 
emphasis, the Heritage Foundation, in its National Defense Report, 
concluded that our military is suffering the worst personnel crisis 
since the draft ended in 1973.
  The problem extends beyond personnel. Operations and maintenance 
accounts have suffered, and the lack of funding has resulted in spare 
parts shortages and the cannibalizing of existing equipment. 
Cannibalizing for parts, once considered a last resort to maintain 
combat capability, is now a common practice.
  Nations which may be potentially hostile to the United States are 
investing in advanced weaponry and technological upgrades to existing 
systems which can seriously impact our military superiority. For 
example, China in fact is working on a defense system that may be able 
to defeat stealth technology by monitoring radio and television waves 
for turbulence resulting from aircraft flight. In addition, smaller 
countries can invest in and upgrade highly capable and advanced 
surface-to-air missiles for a fraction of the cost of an offensive 
weapon platform. Such a high-volume air defense could spell disaster 
for current U.S. air forces.
  Mr. Speaker, these are but a fraction of the concerns facing military 
readiness. Last year, Congress recognized the need to halt the decline 
of our military. We provided for an increase in pay, retention bonuses, 
procurement, research and development and operations and maintenance, 
over $4 billion above the President's request.
  I look forward to examining the President's budget for 2001 to see 
exactly where his goals lie and how he plans to allocate the funding 
for our military. I sincerely hope he has realized inadequate funding 
leads to inadequate forces. I need not emphasize what drastic 
consequences inadequate forces would lead to.

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