Jeb Bush in political straits over carrier

February 09, 2005|Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's defense plan calls for eliminating an aircraft carrier, and it's making life difficult for his brother Jeb, governor of Florida, where the USS John F. Kennedy is based.

Florida has been thrust into a highly political budget fight that also involves Virginia, home of a major Navy port at Norfolk, and Virginia Senators John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and George Allen, up for reelection in 2006.

Although the budget does not say which carrier could be scrapped, the Mayport-based ship is a likely candidate because it is the third-oldest Navy carrier and one of only two in the fleet powered by oil. The Kennedy, commissioned in 1968, is scheduled to be retired in 2018.

Jeb Bush came to Washington for a two-day visit this week, arriving a day after the president rolled out his budget. The governor is expected to lobby legislators today to keep the carrier in Mayport.

It is a dance that happens each year in Washington after the president sends his budget proposal to Congress. State officials with a lot to lose descend on Washington to try to get Congress to reject parts of the president's proposal. Members of Congress wage their own campaigns to protect pet projects for their home states.

The Pentagon proposed eliminating a carrier to save money as the country spends billions a month to fight the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defense officials say the Navy can perform the same functions with 11 carriers.

At lunch Monday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Warner expressed concerns about the Pentagon carrier proposal.