Panel OKs Defense Bill Similar to Bush’s Plan : House: The proposal makes small cuts in President’s budget. But it alters some of Pentagon’s priorities.

The House Armed Services Committee drafted a defense spending bill for fiscal 1993 Wednesday that essentially endorses President Bush’s plan for scaling back the military in the post-Cold War era, but changes some of the Pentagon’s priorities.

The panel’s proposal would cut only $7 billion from the $281-billion defense budget that Bush recommended, and the committee said it is likely to restore $3 billion of that once Congress has passed a general budget resolution. The cuts are mostly in inventory and repairs.

But lawmakers said the bill also is designed to serve as the opening round for about $90 billion worth of defense cuts that the panel intends to impose over the next five years--almost double what Bush has proposed for the medium-term and the deepest such reductions in two generations.

The measure, approved on a vote of 47 to 8, now goes to the full House, which is expected to take it up during the first week of June. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to begin work on its own version of the legislation a couple of weeks later.

Although the spending plan almost certainly will be changed slightly on the House floor and in the Senate, the committee’s action Wednesday effectively spells the end of hopes by some liberals for forcing more sweeping cuts in military outlays to help finance social programs.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to draft a military spending bill that is even closer to the President’s budget, and analysts say it is unlikely that either chamber will force much deeper cuts when the two bills come up for floor action.

“What you’ve got here is basically about what President Bush recommended,” said Paul E. Taibl, research director of the Defense Budget Project, a Washington-based organization that monitors military spending trends. “The changes are mainly at the margin.”

The relatively small cuts from what the Bush Administration had proposed reflected an effort by the panel to compromise between those seeking larger reductions and others who were worried that too sharp a cutback in defense outlays might lead to more unemployment.

For example, partly to keep production lines running, the committee agreed to authorize up to four more B-2 Stealth bombers built by the California-based Northrop Corp. But it also attached strict conditions that would limit the total amount that the Pentagon may spend.

Chief among these is an overall limit of $44 billion that the Pentagon can spend for the four new B-2s and 16 others that Congress authorized last year. If the total cost of the 20 aircraft exceeds that amount, the Pentagon will have to settle for fewer planes.

But the committee bill also reinforces previous congressional restrictions on production of the B-2 bomber and calls for building the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor plane, despite Pentagon opposition and revamping the Administration’s timetable for buying new warplanes.

It also would slash the Administration’s request for increased production of the controversial C-17 cargo jet--built by McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis--following reports of serious production problems.

The measure would allot only $1.9 billion for the C-17--a 30% cut from Bush’s request, and enough for only six more airplanes instead of the eight that the White House recommended. And it would require that the C-17 pass a series of certification tests before the money is spent.

And while the committee granted Bush about three-fourths of the money he sought for the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as “Star Wars,” it rejected his request for a space-based interceptor system, approving only enough for a ground-based weapon.

Finally, while the panel granted the Pentagon substantially more control over the reserves and the National Guard, it approved cuts of only 66,947 troops--substantially short of the 115,997 that Bush had requested.

The Army National Guard would be cut by 11,200, down from 48,100 sought by the Pentagon. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to go along.

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), committee chairman, who essentially drafted the legislation after consultation with panel members, said it marked the first time that lawmakers have cut into operation and maintenance funds, which previously had been considered sacrosanct for fear of impinging on the military’s readiness.