38 Military Projects Fall to Line-Item Veto

Declaring that “the old rules have changed,” President Clinton on Monday wielded the line-item veto to strike down 38 military projects, including four in California, that would cost $287 million but were deemed unnecessary by the White House and Pentagon.

“Government must continue to live within its means,” Clinton told reporters in the Oval Office, as he prepared to sign the vetoes that, among other items, slashed a $6.7-million Marine Corps Reserve Center project in Pasadena and a $10.1-million operations facility at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base in San Diego County.

Also eliminated were an $8.5-million facility for washing military vehicles and a $2.7-million command and control project, both slated for Ft. Irwin in San Bernardino County.

It was the second time Clinton has used the line-item veto power, which enables a president to discard individual tax and spending provisions from larger bills that previously had to be accepted or rejected in their entirety. The line-item authority, sought by presidents for decades, took effect in January.

Congressional champions of the ill-fated projects--unaccustomed to the new White House weapon in budget politics--reacted quickly and angrily.

“The line-item veto is no budget-cutting cure-all,” complained Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) whose state lost a proposed $6.8-million expansion of Army National Guard buildings. “It is nothing more than a club for the White House to use to beat the members of Congress and it stinks!”

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At least one local official also took offense. Pasadena City Councilman William Paparian snapped: “What can we expect from a commander-in-chief who never served his country.”

Altogether, Clinton wiped out projects planned for 24 states, as varied as extending a runway on a Florida air base to building a shop for maintaining Army vehicles in Kentucky to expanding hangars for Naval airplanes in Maryland. The items were part of a $9.2-billion military construction bill.

In explaining which proposals got the ax, White House officials said they sought out those that were not in the president’s budget request and that had yet to be designed.

Administration officials said Clinton chose to spare projects--such as housing and child-care centers--that would enhance the quality of life on military bases.

Clinton previously employed the line-item veto in August, when he struck down three minor provisions that passed Congress as part of the complex deal to balance the federal budget within five years.

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The president won some support for his action. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a leading proponent of the line-item veto, called the list “fair and balanced . . . I believe this is an important first step in eliminating the wasteful spending in annual appropriations bills.”

More typically, however, lawmakers were deeply disappointed at the elimination of spending approved for their districts.

Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale), who had pushed for the refurbishing of the Marine Corps Reserve Center in Pasadena, said, “The president just couldn’t do enough for California during the campaign. Now that the campaign is over, the one thing we really needed was that depot.”

Rogan warned that his district might lose the entire facility as the result of Clinton’s veto. Paparian agreed, saying it could be relocated to March Air Force Base in Riverside County.

Brian P. Bilbray (R-San Diego), alluding to the Coronado Naval Operations project scheduled for his district: “Well, I don’t like it . . . “I think it’s a wrong call, but that’s part of being the president now. Like all things, the line-item veto comes at a price tag--and this is the price.”

An aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Boxer has always opposed the line-item veto, no matter who is in the White House, because “it upsets the balance of power.” Boxer, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, pledged to push for future approval for the vetoed California projects.

White House aides, braced for the backlash, maintained that Clinton’s decisions had not been based on partisan politics. Indeed, projects planned in Mississippi, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), were unscathed. Georgia, home to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, suffered only one hit, a $6.8-million Air force facility.

At the same time, the list was laced with projects in the home states and districts of several prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.); Byrd, who is the powerful ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee; Rep. W.G. “Bill” Hefner (D-N.C.), ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that wrote the bill; and Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), an influential senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Technically, Congress could overturn Monday’s vetoes, but it would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate and that is considered unlikely.

Times staff writers Faye Fiore and Janet Hook, in Washington, and special correspondent Richard Winton, in Pasadena, contributed to this story.