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October 10 2002
Bush Threatens Veto of Defense Bill
President Wants Costly New Disabled Military Pension Benefits Eliminated
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 7, 2002
Alarmed by the cost of expanding military entitlement programs, President Bush
has threatened to veto the $355 billion defense authorization bill for the new
fiscal year if House and Senate conferees do not eliminate new pension benefits
for disabled military retirees that could cost from $18.5 billion to $58 billion
over the next decade.
"We simply cannot continue to add ever-expansive obligations to the defense
budget," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in a letter to the conferees,
who could decide the issue this week. "This would divert critical resources away
from the war on terrorism, the transformation of our military capabilities and
important personnel programs such as pay raises and facilities improvements."
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