News
Aug 04 2006
Senate cuts travel budget for Defense employees
The Senate ordered a cut Aug. 3 in spending for Defense workers, both military and civilian, to attend conferences.
At the urging of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., the Senate approved an amendment to the 2007 defense appropriations bill that caps conference spending at $70 million, a $7 million reduction from current levels.
No similar cut is included in the House version of the bill, leaving a final decision to be made this fall when congressional negotiators complete work on a compromise version of the bill after working out differences.
“The Defense Department spends more on conferences than anybody,” Coburn said, noting its costs were more than the combined expenses of the Commerce, Energy, Labor, Transportation and Treasury departments and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last year, he said, the military spent $77 million sending 36,000 military and civilian employees to 6,600 conferences, including 664 conferences in Florida, 224 in Las Vegas and 98 in Hawaii. The average cost was $2,200, he said.
“There are some benefits to some of these conferences,” Coburn said, but half could be done by digital video conferencing that would save money.
“It is time to prioritize,” he said. “We are in a war. We are having trouble funding the war.”
Coburn said the amendment only caps funding, without saying which employees could go to a conference, where they can be held or why they can be held. He said he hopes some wise decisions result.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go to Florida in the middle of the winter for a conference,” he said.
The Senate passed the amendment by a voice vote after a failed attempt to table it. The tabling motion failed 36-60.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, floor manager for the bill and chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said Congress may be partly to blame by requiring service members to accompany members of the House and Senate to overseas conferences but he was willing to work on a compromise.
“There is no reason for us to try to be unreasonable with the Department of Defense,” Stevens said.
