President seeks to cut Army Reserve level, aircraft programs
Ways to control health costs also will be outlined
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will use his new budget to propose cutting the size of the Army Reserve to its lowest level in three decades and stripping up to $4 billion from two fighter aircraft programs.
The proposals, likely to face opposition on Capitol Hill, are being made as the Defense Department struggles to trim personnel costs and other expenses to pay for the war in Iraq and a host of other pricey aircraft and high-tech programs. Bush will send his 2007 budget to Congress on Feb. 6.
The proposed Army Reserve cut is part of a broader plan to achieve a new balance of troop strength and combat power among the active Army, the National Guard, and reserves to fight the global war on terrorism and to defend the homeland.
In a separate budget development, The New York Times reported today that President Bush will outline a series of proposals in his State of the Union address on Tuesday aimed at controlling the fast-rising costs of health coverage.
The administration's plans seek to use market pressure to control healthcare inflation, which has made it difficult for many companies to pay for benefits and is threatening the nation's economic growth.
Bush is expected to propose tax deductions for out-of-pocket medical expenses and rules to encourage the use of health savings accounts, the Times said. The program also would include incentives for small businesses nationwide to buy health insurance collectively, exempt from state regulation.
The Army sent a letter to Congress members Thursday outlining the plan to trim the Reserve.
Under the plan, the authorized troop strength of the Army Reserve would drop from 205,000 to 188,000, the number of soldiers it had at the end of 2005. Because of recruiting and other problems, the Army Reserve has been unable to fill its ranks to its authorized level.
Army leaders have said they are taking a similar approach to shrinking the National Guard. They are proposing to cut that force from its authorized level of 350,000 soldiers to 333,000, the number now on the rolls.
Some in Congress have vowed to fight the National Guard cuts. Its soldiers and resources are controlled by state governors unless Guard units are mobilized by the president for federal duty, as Bush did after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
''I remain convinced that we do not have a large enough force," Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri, said in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Proposals to cut funding in two key jet fighter programs were described by defense analysts and congressional aides, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because the reductions have not been announced.
One plan would eliminate funding for an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter combat plane.
The paring of close to $2 billion would hit
GE ''could get shut out of the fighter-engine business over the next 10 years," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank.
The plan would benefit Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney, which got the original contract.
