House Dem wants additional ships, aircraft in spending bills

Expressing concern about the deteriorating combat readiness of the military after five years of war in Iraq, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., Thursday said he would use the pending war supplemental funding and the fiscal 2009 budget to buy additional aircraft and ships.

Murtha said he would include in the fiscal 2008 supplemental money to buy 14 C-17 Air Force transports, which are not in the budget, and enough C-130s to get a lower price. He would boost Navy shipbuilding in the new budget from the seven requested to 10. In an address sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Murtha said he would try to get the fiscal 2008 war supplemental approved by March and predicted it would be $200 billion.

The Bush administration wants $103 billion more for war-related expenses on top of the $86.8 billion in emergency spending Congress has approved for the fiscal year for a total of nearly $190 billion. Despite his strong opposition to the Iraq war, Murtha noted that he has voted for all of the $535 billion already approved for Iraq.

Murtha devoted much of his speech to the costs of that war that are less visible than the nearly 4,000 service members killed and more than 28,700 wounded. In addition to the degradation of the military, the "hidden costs" include the decline in U.S. credibility and respect around the world, the soaring national debt, the leap in oil prices and a neglect of domestic needs, he said.

He also cited the $2.7 trillion increase in the national debt, the plunging readiness of Army and National Guard forces in the United States, a sharp increase in the number of Army recruits without a high school education and those receiving waivers for criminal records and the lack of funding for domestic programs. "We must restore fiscal sanity, and that begins by using the $343 million we are spending every day in Iraq and putting it to use here at home," Murtha said.

Explaining the need for additional aircraft, Murtha noted that the average age of the Air Force's air fleet is 24 years, compared to 8.5 years during the Vietnam War. He supported buying more F-22s than the 183 the administration has agreed to, but said the Air Force had to demonstrate the need for the 381 it wants.

He also supported building more ships, while expressing doubt that the Navy could afford the 313-ship fleet it wants. He suggested adding fiscal 2009 construction funds for T-AKE cargo ships and an LPD-17 San Antonio-class amphibious ship. The Navy wants both to modernize its fleet of vessels ready to carry a sizable combat force to a hostile nation and support it ashore. But he said he has warned the Navy and shipbuilders that Congress no longer would cover cost overruns for "low-ball" contract bids.