WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview aired on Sunday that he is optimistic his recommendations for overhauling defense spending can survive an upcoming budget fight in Congress.
Gates told CNN that he has been surprised by the limited scope of criticism aimed so far at his recommendations for the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, and had heard some 'important voices raised in support.'
'I'm relatively optimistic, actually,' he said in the interview, which was taped last week. 'I think we've presented, as one news magazine referred to it, a radically sane set of proposals. They don't represent a cut, and where we have eliminated one program, you have added to others.'
Gates is recommending a $534 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2010 as part of the $3.4 trillion federal budget plan approved by Congress on Wednesday.
The defense budget recommendations do not include the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader U.S. war on terrorism.
A more detailed 2010 budget proposal is expected to arrive as early as this week on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers decide what will, and will not be, included in the final version.
Gates, backed by the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, scored an initial victory last week in his drive to rein in congressional moves to add funding for specific weapons to the war spending budget, a move that may signal big changes in the defense procurement process, analysts said.
Representative John Murtha, who heads the House of Representatives Appropriations defense subcommittee, agreed not to add a provision to a 2009 war spending bill that required the Pentagon to divide a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing Co and a team including Northrop Grumman Corp and Europe's EADS.
Gates has argued forcefully against dividing the tanker work between those companies, saying it would add $7 billion in extra development, logistics and operations costs.
House appropriators also agreed to fund just eight more Boeing C-17 transport planes with the supplemental budget, instead of the 15 sought by Boeing and backed by Murtha.
'Murtha had to apologize on Thursday to members of his subcommittee for failing to deliver on commitments as he had in the past,' said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute think tank.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was also pressuring Daniel Inouye, who heads the Senate defense appropriations committee, to avoid adding funding for extra weapons to the Senate version of the war spending bill, Thompson said.
Thompson said Murtha's retreat on tankers may signal a turning point for the influence of senior congressional appropriators, who historically have been very supportive of weapons programs.
Murtha plans to revisit the tanker issue during the 2010 budget process, his spokesman said. But industry executives say it may be even tougher to add funding for a split tanker buy to the 2010 budget, since it requires approval by two additional committees, the House and Senate armed services committees.
Consultant Jim McAleese said Gates was already warning the military services to skip the 'unfunded priorities' lists that lawmakers have used in the past to justify added funding for programs like the C-17 that were not in the Pentagon's base budget. 'You're not going to get two bites at the apple anymore,' McAleese said.
The Gates proposals scale back or eliminate spending programs for costly weapons systems, while placing greater emphasis on irregular warfare and care for wounded troops and their families.
The U.S. defense chief dismissed criticism that the proposed shift in priorities could risk leaving the United States vulnerable to future weapons threats from countries such as China and Russia.
'At the end of the day, 50 percent of our procurement budget is still for these high-tech modernization programs, about 40 percent for dual-purpose capabilities ... and about 10 percent for irregular conflicts,' Gates said.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Will Dunham) Keywords: USA PENTAGON/BUDGET (david.morgan@reuters.com; +1 202 898 8326; Reuters Messaging: david.morgan.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Gates told CNN that he has been surprised by the limited scope of criticism aimed so far at his recommendations for the Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, and had heard some 'important voices raised in support.'
'I'm relatively optimistic, actually,' he said in the interview, which was taped last week. 'I think we've presented, as one news magazine referred to it, a radically sane set of proposals. They don't represent a cut, and where we have eliminated one program, you have added to others.'
Gates is recommending a $534 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2010 as part of the $3.4 trillion federal budget plan approved by Congress on Wednesday.
The defense budget recommendations do not include the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader U.S. war on terrorism.
A more detailed 2010 budget proposal is expected to arrive as early as this week on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers decide what will, and will not be, included in the final version.
Gates, backed by the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, scored an initial victory last week in his drive to rein in congressional moves to add funding for specific weapons to the war spending budget, a move that may signal big changes in the defense procurement process, analysts said.
Representative John Murtha, who heads the House of Representatives Appropriations defense subcommittee, agreed not to add a provision to a 2009 war spending bill that required the Pentagon to divide a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing Co and a team including Northrop Grumman Corp and Europe's EADS.
Gates has argued forcefully against dividing the tanker work between those companies, saying it would add $7 billion in extra development, logistics and operations costs.
House appropriators also agreed to fund just eight more Boeing C-17 transport planes with the supplemental budget, instead of the 15 sought by Boeing and backed by Murtha.
'Murtha had to apologize on Thursday to members of his subcommittee for failing to deliver on commitments as he had in the past,' said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute think tank.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was also pressuring Daniel Inouye, who heads the Senate defense appropriations committee, to avoid adding funding for extra weapons to the Senate version of the war spending bill, Thompson said.
Thompson said Murtha's retreat on tankers may signal a turning point for the influence of senior congressional appropriators, who historically have been very supportive of weapons programs.
Murtha plans to revisit the tanker issue during the 2010 budget process, his spokesman said. But industry executives say it may be even tougher to add funding for a split tanker buy to the 2010 budget, since it requires approval by two additional committees, the House and Senate armed services committees.
Consultant Jim McAleese said Gates was already warning the military services to skip the 'unfunded priorities' lists that lawmakers have used in the past to justify added funding for programs like the C-17 that were not in the Pentagon's base budget. 'You're not going to get two bites at the apple anymore,' McAleese said.
The Gates proposals scale back or eliminate spending programs for costly weapons systems, while placing greater emphasis on irregular warfare and care for wounded troops and their families.
The U.S. defense chief dismissed criticism that the proposed shift in priorities could risk leaving the United States vulnerable to future weapons threats from countries such as China and Russia.
'At the end of the day, 50 percent of our procurement budget is still for these high-tech modernization programs, about 40 percent for dual-purpose capabilities ... and about 10 percent for irregular conflicts,' Gates said.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Will Dunham) Keywords: USA PENTAGON/BUDGET (david.morgan@reuters.com; +1 202 898 8326; Reuters Messaging: david.morgan.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.