LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

By MARK E. ROSEN and JEREMY M. MILLER

New Challenges and Opportunities for Sea Services As 108th Congress Takes Up Complex Defense Issues

The November 2002 elections and the shift in Senate control create new challenges and opportunities for the nation's sea services. The principal opposition to the president's plan to push a pro-defense agenda and further increase defense spending is likely to come from the deficit hawks in the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Certain members of the administration also could be obstacles, particularly if the added spending for national security puts their own programs in jeopardy. In the past two years, most Democrats have supported the president's requests for increased defense spending. However, the Democrats are upping the ante this year by seeking increased funding for domestic homeland security--at the possible expense of the tax cuts that the president is seeking.

Most battles on spending between Republicans and Democrats will be fought in committee hearings. Committee chairs have enormous power because they control the calendar of activities and have the ability to freeze any legislative initiatives under their jurisdiction. Former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), for example, held enormous sway over foreign treaties and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sometimes puts a hold on judicial nominees. Fortunately for the armed forces, and for the nation, the new chairmen of the committees with the greatest influence in the national-security field--Defense, Transportation and Appropriations--have a record of working in a bipartisan fashion with their colleagues from the other party.

In the area of Appropriations, there were no major surprises in the lineups in either the House or Senate. The membership of the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) is essentially the same as in the last Congress except that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has passed the gavel to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) as chairman of the Committee as a whole. Chairmanship of the important Defense Appropriations Subcommittee (SAC-D) will remain with Stevens, who is exercising his prerogative to be the chair of the subcommittee. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) is the ranking minority member. Unless and until a separate subcommittee is established with jurisdiction over appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Coast Guard will remain under the jurisdiction of the Transportation Subcommittee, now chaired by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who replaces Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in that post.

The lineup for the House Appropriations Committee is relatively unchanged. The Committee will be chaired once again by Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), who has two decades of experience in the defense and intelligence fields. Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) returns as the ranking member. On 30 January, Young announced a major restructuring of subcommittee jurisdictions that would create a new Homeland Security Subcommittee. Under Young's proposal--which requires approval by the full Appropriations Committee--the Homeland Security Subcommittee would be chaired by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) and would have jurisdiction over, among other offices and agencies previously under the jurisdiction of other subcommittees, the Coast Guard and the new Transportation Security Administration, two of the largest components of the new DHS. The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee is headed by Rep. Jerry Lewis, a Republican from San Bernardino, home to Naval Air Station China Lake and Marine Corps Air Station Twentynine Palms. The counterpart to Lewis is the powerful Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine who has been a strong and longtime supporter of a robust U.S. defense program. Chairman Young's restructuring plan also would create a new Subcommittee on Transportation and Treasury, which would be chaired by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.). The ranking members of the new subcommittees had not been announced as of 30 January.

The chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will shift from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), a former secretary of the Navy who also served on active duty both in the U.S. Navy and in the U.S. Marine Corps. Because the SASC has tended to approach most defense issues in a bipartisan manner (except in the case of a controversial nomination), the changeover should be largely transparent to the sea services. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) replaces Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) as chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee. The most important change on the SASC is the addition of nine members: six Republicans and three Democrats. The addition of Senators Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) should be particularly interesting. It also will be interesting to see if Warner capitalizes on the talents of Dole--who, as secretary of transportation during the first Bush administration, was the first woman ever to be the secretary of a military department (the U.S. Coast Guard).
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) traditionally has been less assertive than the Senate panel, except in the handling of issues of particular interest to individual members--Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) has been one of the strongest advocates of a national missile defense program, for example. This year could see the committee taking the lead on numerous other issues, though, thanks to the ascendancy of Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (R-Calif.), who is now chairman of the full Committee. Hunter previously served as chairman of the Defense Research & Development Subcommittee and has a wealth of knowledge about the numerous hardware and RDT&E (research, development, test, and evaluation) programs and issues under the committee's jurisdiction. Shortly after assuming his duties as chairman, Hunter reorganized the HASC committee structure to more closely align it with the Senate. Navy programs will now come under the jurisdiction of two subcommittees: the Projection Forces Subcommittee, which will be chaired by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.); and the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). The Projection Forces Subcommittee has jurisdiction over all Navy core programs and long-range bomber programs. Navy tactical air will fall under Weldon's jurisdiction.

The shift of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) from his previous post as Senate Majority Leader could mean that shipbuilding budgets will remain in the doldrums. However, Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) has once again introduced a "Sense of Congress" resolution seeking a commitment from the federal government to a level of shipbuilding that would build the Navy to a level of 375 ships, the minimum required to carry out all of its probable missions. One way this might be done, even in the current very difficult budget situation, is to establish a revolving shipbuilding fund (on the order of $14 billion per year) to replace the traditional system of piecemeal procurement of ships and components. If the Navy had a stable revolving fund, it could buy in quantity, foster greater competition, and capitalize on market conditions. (See page 11 for additional details.)

A final bright spot for the sea services is in the area of environmental relief. Both the Maritime Administration and the Navy have been prevented by regulatory agencies from economically (and responsibly) scrapping derelict vessels and conducting realistic training operations. Legislative relief packages have been shelved because of the opposition of environmental lobbies (and by other federal agencies). The ascendancy of Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) as chairmen of important environmental oversight committees may finally permit the Navy and MARAD to get a fair hearing. *

Mark E. Rosen is the Navy League's General Counsel and Senior Director of Communications; Jeremy M. Miller is the Navy League's Director of Legislative Affairs.