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Jewish World Review Feb. 13, 2001 / 20 Shevat, 5761
Lisa Hoffman
http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- BRINGING news of a pay raise and other future goodies, President Bush embarked yesterday on a make-up-to-the-military tour. On his first trip on Air Force One as president, one of three day jaunts Bush will make this week to military installations, the new commander in chief tried to soothe angst in the ranks that he is going to break campaign promises of immediate help for GIs. "We owe you and your families a decent quality of life. We owe you the training and equipment you need to do your jobs," Bush told cheering troops at Fort Stewart, Ga. He announced that he intends to give the troops $5.7 billion to boost wages, improve housing and sweeten health benefits, but not until fiscal 2002 - far later than military and congressional leaders had expected. But Bush made little mention of the timetable Monday and the Army infantry troops gave the president a boisterous welcome when he described the new $1.4 billion pay raise and retention benefits. Left unsaid was the fact that the pay raise comes not from Bush's initiative but instead from a congressional mandate. It didn't take long for Democrats to attack Bush's decision not to send an infusion of cash to the Pentagon immediately. During the campaign, Bush repeatedly vowed to spend $4.5 billion quickly to bring the military respite from eight years of hard times under President Clinton. "Now that he is in the White House, President Bush seems content to tell our fighting forces not that help is on the way but that the check is in the mail," Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, said Monday. House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt said Bush was shorting the troops to ensure America can afford a $1.6 trillion tax cut. "President Bush continues to insist on putting an irresponsible tax cut ahead of the immediate needs of our men and women in uniform," the Missouri lawmaker said. Since Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that no new spending would be added to this year's budget and that a thorough review of the military would precede decisions on how much money would be spent next year, howls of protest have come from conservative pundits and ex-military officers. "I am increasingly concerned about trade-offs that appear to be taking place," former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Gordon Sullivan said. Not all in the conservative camp are faulting Bush. Jack Spencer, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, said Monday that the new president is being responsible in studying the needs before advocating more specific spending of taxpayer dollars. "More is needed. But throwing money at the military now won't solve anything," Spencer said. The controversy is sure to continue the rest of the week, during which the White House is focusing on national security. It is part of a continuing effort to concentrate on a single issue at a time. Last week, the focus was on tax cuts; the week before it was education.
Today, Bush travels to Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia to
participate in a battle training exercise; there he will stress the
need for more modern weapons and research. On Wednesday, he
goes to Charleston, W.Va., to meet with National Guard and
reserve airmen at the Air National Guard base
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