The Defense Department would receive $292.2 billion under President Clinton's fiscal 2001 budget proposal released Monday-a 4 percent increase over the $280.9 billion budget authority DoD was given in 2000.
Part of the new funding would be used for a 3.7 percent pay raise designed to help alleviate military retention problems. DoD hopes to recruit more than 200,000 new service members in 2001, slightly more than the average number of recruits enlisted annually from 1997 to 1999. The raise would also apply to civilian DoD employees. From 2002 to 2004, raises would be reduced to 3.2 percent per year, according to the budget.
"We're putting not just cost-of-living money into soldiers' families' pockets, we're putting real increases into their salaries," said a senior DoD official, because the 2001 raise is above the standard cost-of-living increase as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
Other initiatives designed to improve military service members' quality of life include a reduction in out-of-pocket housing expenses, expansion of health care benefits, and enhancements to military child care and education.
The budget also includes funding for several DoD reform initiatives, including money to put more than 200,000 jobs up for competition with private firms under OMB Circular A-76.
"Competition and reengineering of DoD positions and functions are ensuring that they get performed by the most efficient organization-public or private," said the senior DoD official. The Pentagon will save $11.6 billion from 1999 to 2005 through competitive sourcing efforts, according to the budget.
DoD has cut more than 250,000 civilian positions since 1993 and plans to downsize its civilian workforce by at least 35,000 more positions from 1999 to 2001.
The 2001 budget includes money for two more rounds of base closures in 2003 and 2005, but those are subject to congressional approval.
Clinton included a call to "revolutionize Defense Department business affairs" in the administration's 24 top management priorities outlined in the budget.
The budget includes $60.3 billion for weapons procurement in 2001, up $6.1 billion from last year. That figure includes new systems such as the F-22 fighter and upgrades to existing weapons systems.