mml, thanks for the kaplan article. i read that also while doing my research, he is usually very sober in his analysis.
i'm really not sure why he cited the reason for the 1.5 billion dollar reduction as a consequence for a canceled program. the article talks of amendments, but the bill was never amended. it was read twice on the floor and killed in committee. the national guard reconnaisance program certainly isn't cited in the bill. it simply requires that discretionary spending on intelligence be cut 300 million a year for 5 years. in just this bill alone there are plenty of defense cuts included. that's fine, i'm sure some of them were warranted... but apparently there were too many for this bill to find a sponsor, much less voting support.
Lifted directly from the text of the bill at actual senate records site:
(2) Terminate production of Trident D5 submarine launched ballistic missiles after 1996.
(3) Phase out over five years the equivalent of two Army light divisions.
(4) Deny unemployment compensation to service members who voluntarily leave the service.
(5) Close the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, with the last class admitted in 1995 and all activities halted on that class' graduation in 1999.
(7) Reduce the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.
(11) Cancel the Army's Tank Upgrade Program and lay-away production facilities, deactivating but preserving the Government-owned tank manufacturing facilities.
(15) Limit the mission of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization to Theater Missile Defense and Terminate its other projects.
(16) Terminate the National Aerospace Plane Program.
****************************************
you can get the full text of the bill we're discussing at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:S.1290.IS:
is there any way to reconcile the text of the bill and the congressional record w/the editorial from slate?