LOTT: DEFENSE WILL GET NEEDED EMERGENCY FUNDS IN NORMAL PROCESS

The likelihood of a Senate floor vote on a possibly $16 billion
supplemental for Kosovo, DoD, Colombian anti-drug efforts and disaster
relief looks increasingly dim, but the upper chamber will try to approve
needed Pentagon emergency funds through the normal FY '01 budget process.

"I spoke to the secretary of defense last week and assured him that our
intent was to get the monies they had requested and needed and perhaps some
additional amount of money and that we could do it in May as a part of the
regular defense appropriations bill," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
(R-Miss.) told reporters yesterday.

"That is as quick as any supplemental could possibly become law anyway," he
said, adding that the money could still be used in FY '00. The Senate GOP
leadership hopes to secure early passage of appropriations bills, thus
avoiding tying up committees with the supplemental and allowing members to
leave Capitol Hill in time for the fall campaign season.

"I think the time has come and passed for a supplemental, and I think it is
too costly and I will do what I can to block it," Lott said yesterday.

The House Appropriations Committee this month passed a nearly $9 billion
supplemental, more than $3 billion above the White House request (Defense
Daily, March 10). Today, the full House is considering the supplemental.
Lott, who describes himself as a "cheap hawk," said that the original
administration request was along the lines of what he favored, but that
members have added too much.

"There's a limit to what you can do in any one year and maintain any kind
of fiscal responsibility," he said.

Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre and Army Secretary Louis Caldera this
month testified before Congress that they favored quick passage of the
supplemental so that the Army would not deplete its operations and
maintenance accounts to fund the Kosovo operation (Defense Daily, March
24). That O&M money is to run out in July, Caldera said.

House members, such as Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.), have favored the
provision in the supplemental of hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly
as much as $592 million, for repair of broken ships. Cunningham said this
month that at least 1,000 jobs at shipyards in the San Diego area were at
stake if funding was not provided immediately.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, told Defense Daily yesterday that he had talked to Cunningham
about the ship repair money and favored it.

"I'm very interested in that. I don't whether they can hold it [in
conference]," Stevens said. "I think he's right."

Aging equipment, such as Lockheed Martin [LMT] C-130s used in the
counterdrug efforts, must be replaced, Stevens said. "They're wearing out
fast. They were meant to haul from A to B. They weren't meant to be on
station 12 hours at a time. We're wearing out this equipment and we're
going to have to replace it," he said.

Asked about the Pentagon's contention that the Army would use up its O&M
funds unless Congress passes a supplemental quickly, Stevens replied, "It's
up to the leadership to decide what bills come up and when. That's not my
call. I do believe we should respond as quickly as possible and listen to
the people who know what the impact will be if we do not pass the bills."

But Lott said that this legislative session should mark a departure from
its predecessors and that needed emergency funds will be in the
appropriations bills.

"I'm just getting very much concerned that what's happened here is
everybody is thinking this is business as usual: 'We'll do it when we want
to. We'll have a big fat supplemental. We'll do the appropriations when we
get ready. We don't have to worry about what happens until the end of the
year,'" Lott said. "I think that's irresponsible. I'm opposed to business
as usual in a year of this nature where we have work to do."