The Nation : Defense ‘Windfall’ Denied

The Pentagon budget over the last five years had $44.5 billion that wasn’t needed because inflation fell faster than anticipated and most of the money was used to pay for other defense programs, Comptroller General Charles Bowsher, who heads the General Accounting Office, said. But the Defense Department told Congress that “no windfall exists” and said any use of the extra money was approved by Congress. The dispute before a House Armed Services subcommittee was the latest round in a fight between the Pentagon and its critics that began last spring when Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger announced that an extra $4 billion had turned up.