WASHINGTON, May 4 (UPI) -- A key Republican lawmaker wants to cut $4 billion from the Pentagon's budget.
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, is preparing to shift about $6 billion from proposed defense and foreign aid increases in an election-year bid to ease the budget crunch on domestic programs and placate moderates, CongressDaily reported Wednesday.
House GOP leaders hope the shift might free up votes for the languishing fiscal 2007 budget resolution, although Lewis would move bills under President George W. Bush's $873 billion overall spending cap without a budget in place, the report said.
The shift is designed largely to appease moderates concerned about the impact of Bush's spending cap on health and education programs. It would also plug gaps caused by unrealistic fee proposals and gimmicks in other areas, notably homeland security, CongressDaily said.
Bush is proposing a $23 billion increase in fiscal 2007 for Pentagon programs funded in the regular budget. Lewis would trim nearly $4 billion of that increase -- certain to be made up in the upcoming $50 billion fiscal 2007 "bridge fund" for Iraq and Afghanistan. Lewis would also trim more than $2 billion from foreign aid programs, which would still receive a hefty increase over fiscal 2006.
The money would be used in part to erase almost $4 billion in cuts proposed for programs funded under the fiscal 2007 Labor-Health and Human Services measure.
The other major recipient is the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security bill, which would benefit from about $1 billion more than the White House request. That will help make up for the absence of a proposal to double the $2.50 fee on airline tickets to help pay for security.
