Congress slams defense budget cuts

By Andrea Shalal-Esa - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday proposed killing weapons programs that are over budget, behind schedule and out-of-date, urging Congress to rise above parochial interests to support his plan.

But it took just minutes before the first group of U.S. senators dashed off a letter to President Barack Obama opposing the proposed $1.4 billion cut in missile defense spending, showing the challenges Gates faces in pushing through reforms.

Cutting missile defense just after North Korea's launch of a long-distance missile would leave the United States vulnerable to growing ballistic missile threats, said the group, which included Jeff Sessions, a Republican, Joe Lieberman, an Independent, and Mark Begich, a Democrat.

Representative John McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, also weighed in, saying the proposals would amount to $8 billion in cuts in defense spending.

The visceral reaction highlighted the difficulty of actually cutting defense programs, but analysts say the economic crisis, mounting budget pressures, and growing public outrage about wasted spending of any kind may boost the chances of success for at least some of his reforms.

Gates called the budget a rare opportunity to reform Pentagon procurement. "My hope is that ... the members of Congress will rise above parochial interests and consider what is in the best interest of the nation as a whole," he said.

Watchdog groups, who have called for greater discipline and restraint in defense spending for years, were skeptical.

"There is a reason President Eisenhower originally wanted to call it the 'military-industrial-congressional' complex," said Travis Sharp, defense analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "Particularly in this economy, Congress is motivated by jobs and home state pork, not national defense."