Senate Beefs Up Funding of Army Reserves

The National Guard and Reserves flexed their political muscle Thursday as the Senate passed legislation adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the part-time military.

The $245-billion defense appropriations bill gives generously to the backup force--far more generously than the Pentagon recommended. The support runs counter to prevailing expert opinion on how the United States should build and maintain its national defenses but follows a long tradition of congressional support.

The bill adds $65 million for Guard and Reserve personnel while cutting $45 million from active-duty accounts; adds 1,510 Guard and Reserve slots along with 921 new full-time support personnel; and adds $239 million for Guard and Reserve operations and maintenance.

In the largest single add-on, the bill provides $760 million for equipment for the National Guard and Reserve where none was requested in the Clinton administration budget.

All this comes despite a variety of expert analyses questioning the need for so large a Reserve force. It also comes as the active-duty Army competes with the National Guard and Reserve for positions in a shrinking combat force.

From 1990 through 1998, the strength of the active-duty Army will have declined by 37%, dropping from 781,000 to 495,000 soldiers, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank that follows defense issues. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve, meanwhile, will have declined by 22%, from 736,000 to 575,000--leaving a force larger than the active Army.

House and Senate versions of the appropriations bill must now be reconciled, but both call for spending $10 billion more than Clinton asked. The White House has warned that Clinton’s advisors would recommend a veto if the final bill is not cut.