[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 11868]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            PENDING FISCAL YEAR 2002 DEFENSE BUDGET REQUEST

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, here we go again. Late last week, senior 
Administration officials indicated that the Bush Administration plans 
to submit to Congress, several months late, a budget request for the 
Department of Defense that increases the already bloated fiscal year 
2001 spending level for that department by $18.4 billion.
  I find it interesting that the Administration has yet to provide the 
details of this request to the Congress, to the dismay of both parties, 
but that the dollar amount increase over last year's $310 billion 
appropriation is already being widely reported.
  This is in addition to the $6.5 billion supplemental appropriations 
request that the Senate may consider later this week, most of which is 
for the Department of Defense.
  Where will it end, Mr. President?
  While I commend Secretary Rumsfeld for undertaking a long-overdue 
comprehensive review of our military, I also urge him to consider 
carefully the impact that any proposed defense increases will have on 
the rest of the federal budget.
  We are already feeling the impact left by the $1.35 trillion tax cut 
that this Administration made its number one priority. That tax cut 
virtually ensures that there can be no defense increases without making 
deep cuts in other parts of the budget. And the top priorities of the 
American people, such as saving Social Security and Medicare and 
providing a Medicare prescription drug benefit, will be that much 
harder to accomplish.
  But it appears that the Administration will propose an increase in 
defense spending.
  I fear that this pending request, coupled with the massive tax cut 
that has already been signed into law, will lead us down a slippery 
slope to budget disaster.

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