Congress Fiddles with the Defense Budget
By
Bob Brewin
One day after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters the proposed $613 billion Pentagon budget could not withstand Congressional tinkering, the House Armed Services Committee did just that today in a hearing focused on its members' local wish lists.
Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., whose district includes the Air Force Research Lab in Rome, N.Y., decried the planned 17 percent cut to the Air Force science and technology budget and Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., wants to ensure continued funding for Air National Guard fighter wings in his state.
The strangest pitch came from Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., who wants support for a new "cutting edge" branch museum in Chicago of the main Defense National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Md.
Davis said the new museum in Chicago will be backed by private donations, but I have a feeling it will also require some help from the strained Pentagon purse.