An expected gap in the Pentagon's post-Cold War budgets is not as severe as first thought, about $31 billion, President Clinton and top advisers said Friday, seeking to dampen talk of a Pentagon-White House dispute.
The shortfall for five years is not the $40 billion to $50 billion estimated earlier, and the problem can be worked out, three officials said at a briefing."We haven't got all the answers yet, but I was most encouraged that OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and the Council of Economic Advisers and the Pentagon all agreed that the number is considerably smaller than $50 billion," Clinton said. He spoke to reporters after a holiday event in the East Room.
Despite the still-large shortfall, the president has pledged to support the military strategy and force structure developed by Defense Secretary Les Aspin, the advisers said.
The officials, speaking to reporters on condition they not be identified, said new inflation figures from the Council of Economic Advisers would narrow the budget gap.
Now needed, they said: about $20 billion more in funds to back planned military expenditures and around $11 billion for a congressionally mandated military pay raise.
The officials called reporters in on Friday after reports that the White House and Pentagon were at odds over the budget issue, which had been cited as one of the primary reasons for Aspin's resignation on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Clinton named retired Adm. Bobby Inman to replace Aspin, and Inman stated clearly that he had agreed to take the job only after he had received what he felt was the president's "absolute commitment" to build bipartisan support for a military policy.
While neither Clinton nor any of the top officials offered any suggestions for solving the $31 billion problem, they all insisted it would be worked out.
They declined to state whether the money would be taken from Pentagon or other budgets. Nor would they say whether long-term weapons procurement or modernization accounts would be hit harder to preserve Aspin's force structure and "readiness" funds, which pay for the military's ability to train to go to war.
National Security Adviser Anthony Lake said Clinton "remains committed to the strategy and force structure in the `Bottom-Up Review' and remains committed to maintaining the readiness of our armed forces."