Military weapons vs. benefits issue heats up at hearing

House Democrats took aim at Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., during a hearing Wednesday after he broached the touchy subject of military entitlement spending and its potential to crowd out funds for new weapons and other defense technologies.

During a House Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Kirk questioned Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas' ability to fund increased military health care benefits and other entitlement programs for dependents while simultaneously paying to modernize the military.

Jonas said striking the right balance is a continuing challenge, noting that the Pentagon plans to spend close to $130 billion of its $419.3 billion fiscal 2006 budget request on military personnel and health care.

But subcommittee Democrats seized on Kirk's assertion that military dependent and retiree spending has "no military value," charging that such programs are critical to military recruiting and retention. Subcommittee ranking member Chet Edwards, D-Texas, said potential recruits consider how the military treats active and retired service members before they join.

And while Edwards said Kirk's line of questioning regarding entitlement programs was valid, he strongly disagreed with Kirk's characterization of the debate, asserting that Kirk's comments imply that military retirees are "hurting our nation's defense."

Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., said the idea of separating entitlement programs from the regular military budget, as Kirk suggested, has merit. But he chastised Kirk for suggesting that government benefits for military dependents and retirees do not contribute to the defense of the nation.

"If you have an all-volunteer Army, you must be concerned with the well-being of dependents" and veterans, Boyd said.

But Kirk defended his assertions, noting that because entitlement accounts are funded before procurement programs, dependents and retirees receive their benefits ahead of the active duty military. And given that the Pentagon is under mounting pressure to reign in its massive defense budget, "entitlement spending is going to crowd out pay and equipment with soldiers on the front lines," Kirk said. Young enlisted service members face "increasing competition" to pay for weapons, vehicles and uniforms, he added.