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Cuts Not Deep Enough Yet

Click to see original imageThose who think we shouldn’t be cutting any more from the defense budget in President Reagan’s latest round of budget trimming should review their sentiments in light of facts revealed by Rep. Les Aspin. The Wisconsin Democrat noted Monday that Pentagon brass are dining very well in five Pentagon dining rooms under a taxpayer subsidy. Although meals for all services are subsidized, Aspin was particularly upset about the Navy’s dining room, It costs $419,151 a year to operate the dining room, but the admirals only pay $54,737 of that total, and the rest is picked up from the taxpayers. The top Navy officers, he said, can dine on broiled filet of sole at a cost to them of $4.05 a plate. The rest of the meal, which actually costs $31, is paid by taxpayers. The Herald is not saying the Pentagon shouldn’t have dining rooms where officers can dine and stay close to their duties, but it certainly questions why the taxpayers should pay to see the admirals eat so well for so little, For most American civilians, a $31-a-plate dinner is a once a year luxury, let alone a $31-a-plate lunch. Some might argue that it’s carping to complain about the $1.4 million annual cost of the Pentag0n’s five dining rooms where Reagan and Congress are discussing cutting anywhere from a minimum of $14 billion from the defense budget to as much as three times that amount. The mere fact this clearly abusive Pentagon practice is going on after the president’s first round of budget cuts should be ample evidence that Reagan’s budget cutters didn’t trim all the fat on the first sweep of the knife. If this abuse exists, others must as well. Before anyone listens to Pentagon cries against any more cuts, Congress and the taxpayers need to be assured that the money they are shelling out to the Pentagon is going for hardware and the brains and talent to use it to defend this country effectively – not to subsidize a luxury feed trough for the Pentagon brass.