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| House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) |
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Refusing to concede defeat to the Bush administration, House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) is continuing his campaign to drum up support on Capitol Hill for the embattled Crusader Artillery System.
One of many steps in his fight to maintain funding for the $11 billion howitzer program, Watts took Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.), a member of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and an aide from the House Armed Services Committee on a trip to the Yuma, Ariz., Proving Ground to examine the artillery program that the Bush administration is determined to cancel.
"We wanted to take some members out to let them see the effectiveness ... of the Crusader in person," Watts said after Friday's visit. "We did what we hoped the Department of Defense, [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, [Deputy Defense Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz and even the president would do: to go and take a look at the Crusader up close and personal."
The United Defense Company had planned to manufacture the Crusader in Watts' congressional district, next to Fort Sill, home of the Army field artillery. Watts, however, said his interest in keeping the program alive has no parochial basis.
Since Rumsfeld announced cancellation of the Crusader program last month, Watts has been vocal in his opposition to the decision. He lobbied his colleagues through personal phone calls and "Dear Colleague" letters, and requested internal administration documents to examine the decision. He even failed to attend an appearance by President Bush at a recent House Republican Conference meeting to work the phones to drum up support for the measure.
Watts also publicly criticized the administration for not informing Congress of its plans and for the amount of time it took to reach the decision.
Watts, who, as the fourth-ranking House Republican, has otherwise marched lockstep with the administration, said the clash over the Crusader has not created a rift with the White House.
"I think that this, too, is part of the legislative process," Watts said.
The congressional delegation (codel) trip could be the last step, however, in Watts' efforts if the House defense appropriations bill is approved without the $475 million for the Crusader, which faces a critical test in both chambers this week. The Senate could take up the defense authorization bill and the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee marks up its spending bill for the 2003 fiscal year.
The Crusader's allies in Congress had initially sought to include funding for the howitzer in the 2002 supplemental appropriations bill, and view the 2003 defense bill as their last chance.
"We'll know by the end of the week," Watts said of the Crusader's fate.
The Crusader's opponents in Congress, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), are equally determined. "I've been working with Secretary Rumsfeld and his staff to support them in getting [the Crusader] killed," McCain told The Hill, adding that he has been assuring colleagues that the freed-up Crusader funding would go toward the military.
McCain said the program should be killed for a "variety of reasons" and called eliminating it one of the "first steps in the fundamental reforming of the military."
Even if funding is approved, Congress' legislative actions will not alter the administration's stance, said Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Rivers Johnson.
"We are still sticking by the secretary's decision - nothing has changed," he said. "Our recommendation has been the cancellation of the Crusader system still stands."
Rumsfeld and administration officials say they want to terminate Crusader because it does not fit with the goal of a lighter, more mobile military. President Bush has threatened to veto any legislation that includes funding for the program. The administration has lobbied lawmakers to vote against the program.
Watts contends that the administration has yet to propose a viable alternative. "I'm open to listen to what they have to say," Watts said. "If they're going to talk to us in theory we need to have some sense of assurance."
McCain countered Watts' assertion that the administration has not set forth a concrete plan if the Crusader is killed, pointing to language in the 2003 budget amendment drafted by the Defense Department.
Nethercutt, who attended Friday's codel, left for Arizona supportive of the administration's stance to kill the Crusader. "It is really a fact finder for me so I can make the right decision," he said.
"J.C. and I came in together, and I think the world of him. I felt I owed him that courtesy," Nethercutt added.
Watts and Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) are awaiting internal documents they requested from Rumsfeld earlier this month.
"We require further information in order to properly fulfill our responsibility to review the merits of the decision, and better understand how and why it was reached," the June 5 letter states.
Even though the lawmakers had asked to receive the information by last week, Watts said he expects to receive the documents this week.
The Crusader was dealt another blow last week when the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 13-6 to eliminate the $475 million in funding for the 2003 defense authorization bill, although elimination of the program is contingent on the release of an Army report on it and other artillery programs.
While the issue is also critical to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a member of the Armed Services Committee who is up for reelection, his spokesman said he is working with the Pentagon to come up with an alternative to the Crusader.
"We're trying to work with the administration right now and meet the Army's basic needs," said Inhofe spokesman Gary Hoitsma. "We're trying to deal with political reality as we see it and get the best out of the Senate."
However, Inhofe will "strongly oppose" an amendment to kill the program outright, he said.
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