Wednesday, May 14, 2008
House cuts out Army future to pay for present
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, chairman of the committee’s air and land forces panel and a supporter of the MRAP funding, said the committee’s version of the 2009 defense policy bill includes money for most of the Bush administration requests for the Army, including $2.2 billion for upgrading Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker vehicles; $3.4 billion for tactical vehicles including $947 million for heavily armored Humvees; $3.1 billion for helicopters; and more than $1 billion for munitions."Many unfunded priorities". Who knew mercenaries were that fucking expensive. But it looks like Ma Deuce is ready to retire.
However, the bill also makes a 5.5 percent reduction in funding for the Army’s FCS program. Abercrombie said the cut is needed so that money can be shifted to higher priorities, like readiness, and also reflects a “history of delays and cost overruns” in the program.
“It is $110 billion over budget and five years behind schedule,” he said. “I hardly think they have been cut short. And, it has not produced a single deployable system in six years of development.”
He said the savings were redirected to supplying equipment to the National Guard and reserves, one of the many unfunded needs in the defense budget. The Army had $4 billion in unfunded priorities, Abercrombie said.
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