October 22, 1999

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: Thomas Donnelly, Deputy Director

SUBJECT: Defense

Today, the Republican leaders of the House of Representatives trumpeted their proposal for breaking the budget impasse between the Congress and the White House, cutting all discretionary federal spending accounts by 1.4 percent. Magically targeting the "at least one percent of government spending…prone to waste, fraud and abuse," the House plan, the work of Budget Committee Chairman Rep. John Kasich, is touted as "simple and fair. It treats everyone the same."

But treating the Department of Commerce equally with the Department of Defense hardly reflects the proper priorities of the party of Ronald Reagan. The effect of the cuts proposed by the House leadership would reduce defense spending below the amount approved by Congress last year – not merely in inflation-adjusted terms, but in actual dollars.

Moreover, House leaders chose the absolute worst moment to announce these defense cuts. Yesterday, the four military service chiefs testified before the House Armed Services Committee that the proposed fiscal year 2000 budget still would fall $9 billion short of the amount the chiefs consider to be their minimum requirements -- even before this proposed cut. By this action, the House leaders have only given futher credence to the White House’s charge that Republicans care too little about America’s global responsibilities.

As the budget battle nears its climax, conservatives in Congress must find a larger role to play than that of accountant and they must care as much for national security as they do for Social Security. Defending America and protecting our interests abroad deserves not merely equal treatment with other government spending programs, but the recognition that there is no higher responsibility. Is this the party of Kasich or the party of Reagan?