Senate Beefs Up Funding of Army Reserves

WASHINGTON — 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.