White House Withdraws Request to Delay Pentagon Expenditures

The Bush Administration on Wednesday withdrew its request to Congress to delay $2.2 billion in Pentagon expenditures this year.

By law, such deferrals are permissible because of unexpected contingencies or a chance to save money by better management. The delays are not allowed for policy reasons, but the Administration had cited developments in the East Bloc in making the request.

The deferrals drew the ire of several lawmakers who favor programs that would have been affected.

Among the deferrals were $200 million for the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, which is manufactured in Texas and Pennsylvania; $593 million for construction and conversion of Navy ships, work that is a boon to many coastal states; and $325 million for the Coast Guard’s purchase of an icebreaker.

Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, complained that some of the requests “appear to go well beyond the permissible housekeeping deferrals.”

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee had included language in its $2.4-billion supplemental money bill disapproving the Administration’s request to defer the $2.2 billion in Pentagon spending.

Instead the panel, in talks with the Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget, found $1.8 billion in defense cuts that will partly offset the cost of the supplemental bill.