Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
National Journal's CongressDailyAM
May 9, 2007
The Army's new chief of staff has expressed his "grave concerns" to House Armed Services Chairman Skelton about a proposed $867 million cut to the Army's Future Combat Systems program, arguing that reduced funding would force soldiers to fight wars with Cold War-era equipment well beyond 2040.
As backers of the service's first major modernization effort in four decades mount an effort to head off cuts at today's House Armed Services Committee markup of the FY08 defense authorization bill, Gen. George Casey, who became chief of staff last month, wrote Skelton to warn of "severe ramifications" of cutting FCS.
"The wars we are fighting today are likely the opening engagements in a long, dangerous struggle to preserve our freedoms and way of life," Casey, whose previous assignment was commanding U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, wrote in a letter sent Friday.
"The cost of modernizing is measured in dollars; the cost of failing to modernize is measured in lives," he said.
After the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee voted last week to chop $867 million from the Army's request for $3.56 billion in research and development funds for FCS, the Army has told lawmakers and aides that the cut, if included in the final bill, would delay near-term FCS technologies, drive up program costs significantly, and potentially lead to a cancellation of the program.
This assessment differs widely from that of Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who has said his panel needed to give priority to the needs of today's heavily deployed Army over long-range research and development programs.
"The plain fact of the matter is Mr. Skelton has given us orders -- and rightly so -- that readiness is the key element here," Abercrombie said Tuesday.
"We have to provide for troops in the field and those areas that need reordering [are] hope-for programs, they're not real," he added later.
The cuts, Abercrombie said, would only affect portions of FCS that would not be in the field for more than five years. Additionally, Abercrombie said he took money from the program that was budgeted to pay contractor fees to Boeing Co., the lead contractor on the $160 billion program.
At today's markup, several members are expected to try to fend off full committee approval of the cuts, which amount to nearly 25 percent of the FCS budget request for next year.
Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Todd Akin, R-Mo., one of those preparing to fight for FCS funding, said Tuesday he had not yet committed to any specific amendments. Boeing runs the FCS program out of St. Louis, adjacent to Akin's district.
Meanwhile, several House aides said some committee members could offer amendments to cut more money from the FCS budget request to pay for National Guard equipment or other pressing needs.
Abercrombie said he expects the sponsors of those amendments to back off before the markup, however.
By Megan Scully
May 9, 2007
The Army's new chief of staff has expressed his "grave concerns" to House Armed Services Chairman Skelton about a proposed $867 million cut to the Army's Future Combat Systems program, arguing that reduced funding would force soldiers to fight wars with Cold War-era equipment well beyond 2040.
As backers of the service's first major modernization effort in four decades mount an effort to head off cuts at today's House Armed Services Committee markup of the FY08 defense authorization bill, Gen. George Casey, who became chief of staff last month, wrote Skelton to warn of "severe ramifications" of cutting FCS.
"The wars we are fighting today are likely the opening engagements in a long, dangerous struggle to preserve our freedoms and way of life," Casey, whose previous assignment was commanding U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, wrote in a letter sent Friday.
"The cost of modernizing is measured in dollars; the cost of failing to modernize is measured in lives," he said.
After the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee voted last week to chop $867 million from the Army's request for $3.56 billion in research and development funds for FCS, the Army has told lawmakers and aides that the cut, if included in the final bill, would delay near-term FCS technologies, drive up program costs significantly, and potentially lead to a cancellation of the program.
This assessment differs widely from that of Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who has said his panel needed to give priority to the needs of today's heavily deployed Army over long-range research and development programs.
"The plain fact of the matter is Mr. Skelton has given us orders -- and rightly so -- that readiness is the key element here," Abercrombie said Tuesday.
"We have to provide for troops in the field and those areas that need reordering [are] hope-for programs, they're not real," he added later.
The cuts, Abercrombie said, would only affect portions of FCS that would not be in the field for more than five years. Additionally, Abercrombie said he took money from the program that was budgeted to pay contractor fees to Boeing Co., the lead contractor on the $160 billion program.
At today's markup, several members are expected to try to fend off full committee approval of the cuts, which amount to nearly 25 percent of the FCS budget request for next year.
Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Todd Akin, R-Mo., one of those preparing to fight for FCS funding, said Tuesday he had not yet committed to any specific amendments. Boeing runs the FCS program out of St. Louis, adjacent to Akin's district.
Meanwhile, several House aides said some committee members could offer amendments to cut more money from the FCS budget request to pay for National Guard equipment or other pressing needs.
Abercrombie said he expects the sponsors of those amendments to back off before the markup, however.
By Megan Scully