In a balanced-budget environment, it's going to be virtually impossible to get defense increases unless a conflict erupts. I'm committed to getting procurement numbers up. But if I can't get savings out of overhead, I can't get procurement numbers up. The Air Force and Navy. Perhaps the Army as well, in training schools and depots.
Marines are pretty tight.
Republicans claim the president played politics with the last BRAC round, promising before the 1996 election to soften the impact on jobs from closing McClellan AFB in California and Kelly AFB in Texas. From the last BRAC round, we said we should have privatization in place, so let's have the two facilities compete. Republicans generally accept the notion of competition between the public and private sector. I don't think there are complaints about that. May. In the memo, Peters recounted a meeting he had with White House aide John Podesta.