Senators Seek to Offset Impact of Defense Cuts

Senate Democratic lawmakers unveiled a $1.2-billion package of initiatives Thursday to aid people, communities and corporations hard hit by cuts in defense spending--help they said the Bush Administration had done nothing to provide.

Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.), chairman of the Senate’s Democratic Task Force on Defense-Economic Transition, said Thursday that the program would channel funds to worker retraining nationwide and assist defense contractors large and small in reorienting their businesses toward civilian technologies.

The Bush Administration, which traditionally has resisted congressional efforts to coordinate the direction of American industry, has opposed many of the Democratic proposals. But with regions such as Southern California reeling from defense procurement cuts, base closings and military layoffs, Democratic lawmakers have seized defense conversion as a political issue.

The senators revealed their package just two days after the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee readied a plan to earmark $1 billion in the 1993 defense budget to offset the economic impact of defense cuts. House strategists have said that the House ultimately could use as much as $3 billion in the Pentagon budget for domestic programs.

The Administration has proposed cutting almost in half the $7.5-million budget of the Pentagon office that helps communities deal with changes caused by shifts in Defense Department priorities, such as base closings. It also has sought to abolish the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, which Democrats believe could be useful in coordinating defense conversion policies.

Pryor said details of the new spending programs will be discussed in the months ahead.

While House members appeared intent on using defense dollars indirectly to fund domestic economic programs, senators planned to transfer money in the Pentagon’s budget to other agencies, such as the Labor and Commerce departments and the Small Business Administration. The Democratic aim, senators said, is to channel more of the nation’s spending for research and development to civilian technologies. For example, they proposed establishing a National Environmental Technologies Agency to fund grants to firms developing technologies to clean up the environment.

The package of initiatives would increase Small Business Administration spending for small firms driven out of the defense business. The Democrats also proposed setting aside additional funds for defense research and development that has potential applications in civilian areas, such as transportation, computer, communications and energy-efficiency.