Congress Girds for Defense Budget Battle - Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes Options

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Congress Girds for Defense Budget Battle - Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes

The budget fight on Capitol Hill began just minutes after the fiscal 2010 defense plan was unveiled Monday. Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb expressed deep concerns about reductions in Navy shipbuilding. Another group of senators lead by Alaska Democrat Mark Begich sent a letter criticizing proposed cuts in missile defense.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member John McHugh of New York called the budget cuts too drastic for a nation still fighting overseas. Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma called it a plan to "disarm America," adding "never before has a president so ravaged the military at a time of war."

Even supportive lawmakers, who praised Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the White House for making tough fiscal decisions to rein in military spending, emphasized that now they’ll be the ones to determine which programs actually need to be funded.

More at Stars and Stripes and:

Weapons Wars - Washington Post editorial
Mr. Gates’s Budget - New York Times editorial
On the Defensive - Washington Times editorial
Obama and Gates Gut the Military - Wall Street Journal opinion