Word: hatfields
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With so many longtime critics of military spending ousted from Congress last fall, there were few left to question last week's defense bonanza. Democratic Senator Gary Hart argued against the expensive Nimitz carrier in favor of lighter, less expensive models. Republican Mark Hatfield, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, promises to push for some type of arms limitation agreement. Says Hatfield: "We're spending and building first before seeing if there is a method of obviating the need for that buildup. It's unnecessary and it's dangerous...
...want a peacetime draft. More American citizens under arms will not improve international stability, and if a legitimate national emergency were to surface, enough would doubtless volunteer to defend the nation. Furthermore, only the Selective Service System is confident that registration would help in mobilization. As Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) has pointed out, a real crisis requires efficient, well trained soldiers, not lists of 18-year-olds. Even some supporters of draft registration, such as Sen. Sam Nunn (DGa.), acknowledge that cutting waste in the defense budget and improving conditions for professional soldiers are more important than...
...Hatfield still believes the pressure of past promises and nightmares of federal prisons brimming with suburban high school seniors will persuade Reagan to axe registration. Citing the unenthusiastic testimony of Secretary of Defense Casper W. Weinberger '38 before the Senate Armed Services Committee's recent hearings on registration, an aide to Hatfield says, "It really looks like they (members of the Reagan administration) are leaning in our direction...
...even in Hatfield's office, there seems to be little interest in forcing the registration issue. "Who knows, if we bring it up on the floor, (Sen. Sam) Nunn (D-Ga.) might push for a draft--that's what he wants anyway," says Hatfield's adviser, who fears "backing the president against the wall" by focusing too much attention on registration...
Most members of Congress, in the House as well as the Senate, fall somewhere between Hatfield and Nunn, but almost everyone shares their wait-and-see attitude...