Budget Summit Resumes, Targets Pentagon

Congressional and Bush Administration negotiators Wednesday after a 10-day break resumed their efforts to shrink the federal budget deficit, with their five-hour meeting focusing on Pentagon spending.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told reporters after attending the session that he agreed to work with congressional specialists to estimate the budgetary impact of cutting troops and weapons by 25% over the next five years.

“We’ll be looking at various options,” Cheney said, adding that no one would be bound in advance to support any such reduction in the number of ships, planes and Army divisions.

“Twenty-five per cent seems like a reasonable number to look at, given the reduced threat,” Cheney said. But lawmakers have warned that a 25% cut in forces does not necessarily add up to a 25% cut in the Defense Department’s $300-billion budget--the target set in a House-passed budget resolution.