D. Negative Aspects of E. Conclusion the Budget Fiscal constraints have produced a FY 89 Budget request which: Funds only 50 percent of required depot maintenance for major end items of equipment. Slows the planned increases in wartime sustainability. Allows the Backlog of Maintenance and Repair (BMAR) on facilities and housing to rise above an acceptable level. Funds AGR positions and military technicians at a level that is inadequate to promote unit readiness and hazards the activation of essential RC units. Reduces AC strength by 8,600 soldiers. The Budget reflects a 1.6 percent reduction in purchasing power from FY 88. The FY 89 funding level decrease from its original level is a trend that increasingly challenges our ability to execute our strategy of flexible response and continues to raise the risk to our Nation's security. As the adversaries of the United States continue to spend a greater portion of their GNP on military readiness, research and development, the risk will increase. In light of the steadily increasing burden of deterrence that our conventional forces must bear, we look to Congress for the money in future budgets to offset that threat. It will then be our responsibility to focus those resources on essential warfighting capabilities, ensuring the forces we provide the unified and specified commanders-in-chief are made up of quality soldiers who are ready, trained, equipped, and organized to deter when possible and to fight and win if necessary. CHARTS INDICATING GROWTH PATTERN FROM FISCAL YEAR 1976 Senator SASSER. Thank you, General Vuono, for that statement. Mr. Secretary, I would ask you to provide copies of the slides that you referred to earlier for the record. I note that your slides also compare 1980 versus where we are in 1988, and I think that is very helpful. It would be helpful if you would also provide charts that would indicate where we were when we started fiscal year 1976, and that would give us, I think, perhaps a more accurate growth pattern over almost a decade of growth here. Secretary MARsh. Yes, sir. [The charts follow:] |