Defense Chief to Congress: ‘Bite Bullet’ : Pentagon: Cheney challenges lawmakers to make hard choices in trimming budget.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney challenged his Capitol Hill critics today to end their “bold talk” about cutting the defense budget and come up with specifics for paring the nation’s military in a time of reduced superpower tensions.

Speaking a day after he proposed sharp reductions in the B-2 stealth bomber production and cutbacks in other major warplane programs, Cheney said he is “pleased with the response” he’d received during his testimony.

But he also had a blunt message for those lawmakers who say he’s not cutting enough: put up or shut up.

“What I have heard consistently from the Congress . . . is a lot of bold talk about wanting to take down the top line on defense. I have yet to see them deliver in terms of being willing to cut programs, cut bases, reduce force structure to achieve those levels,” Cheney told reporters.

“It’s easy to pontificate about what the overall top line ought to be. But as soon as we get down to the real nitty-gritty of how we’re going cut the defense budget . . . there’s a noticeable lack of any significant, substantive plans on Capitol Hill,” the secretary said.

Asked to respond to criticism from House Armed Services Chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.) that his program is too modest in spending cuts, Cheney said that Aspin has had trouble in the past with gaining enough support in his own committee to support his views, let alone prevail on the House floor.

He then challenged the lawmakers to come up with, and vote on, a defense budget if they think they can improve on the Administration’s plan.

‘If they’ve got a better plan, let ‘em put it out there. If they’ve got the votes to change it, . . . produce them,” Cheney said.

But the secretary predicted that the dissension on Capitol Hill about how to revamp the military in such a time of sweeping change--and during an election year--means that “serious bargaining” won’t begin until late this fall, and that a lame-duck session of Congress could be necessary before an agreement can be reached.

Cheney’s aircraft review calls for reducing the proposed number of B-2 bombers from 132 to 75 and reducing the proposed purchase of the C-17 long-range transport plane from 210 to 120.

The defense secretary also called for cutting back on the Navy’s A-12 attack aircraft and delaying purchases of the Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Aircraft and Advanced Tactical Fighter.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Cheney’s efforts but declined to adopt the proposed numbers.

“I don’t want to commit to any specific quantities of these weapons or the total of annual production rates until we know the results of the testing that will occur now at a more orderly way,” Nunn said.

Although Cheney has a few more programs left to review that could produce a bit more in budget reductions, his tally so far is just $109 million in actual fiscal 1991 spending reductions and $2.4 billion in long-term spending authority for 1991 and beyond. The most optimistic suggestion on Capitol Hill for cuts that would take advantage of reduced world tensions is $6 billion in actual spending and about $18 billion in long-term budget authority.