August 9, 1976
Page 26337
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I rise in support of the amendment of my distinguished colleague from Vermont (Mr. LEAHY) to delete $350 million in advance procurement funds for the nuclear attack carrier from the Defense appropriation bill.
I fully recognize and support the need to maintain our naval forces at a level that assures supremacy of the seas as the United States carries forth its obligations for the free world. Carrier task forces are a vital segment of the forces required to achieve these objectives.
However, I am very concerned about the pressures being exerted on the Congress as we attempt to stay within the congressional budget targets established in the first concurrent resolution for the national defense function. I stated last Monday when the debate began on the defense appropriation bill that we were below our target for budget authority by $0.7 billion and at target for outlays. When I view the potential impact of not achieving all the proposed economies assumed in our first budget resolution and the potential import of the budget supplementals discussed by the Secretary of Defense, it will take considerable effort on the Congress part to stay within our targets, particularly the target for outlays.
Further, I am concerned that the Congress would commit itself to a $2 billion program at a time when no objective studies or analyses have been conducted by the Navy and presented to the Senate which could lead to a reasonable determination of required ship force size and mix. I am referring to the nuclear versus non-nuclear issue and the midi, mini-carriers versus Nimitz-size nuclear carriers issue. Hopefully, the ongoing study under the guidance of the National Security Council will provide the Senate with a realistic assessment of naval ship force size.
Mr. President, for this reason and the fact that we are close to exceeding our budget targets, especially for outlays, I urge adoption of the Leahy amendment to assist congressional compliance with our mandated budget targets.