Senate Panel Shoots Homeless Aid Out of Pentagon Budget

WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to cancel the Pentagon’s program to help the homeless, concluding that the effort interferes with America’s ability to defend itself.

The committee’s report on the $267-billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 1997, $12.9 billion more than the Pentagon says it needs, cuts out the $3.5-million Homeless Support Initiative.

The initiative lets the various services help homeless shelters near military facilities. They do such things as give out blankets and open armories in winter so the homeless don’t freeze.

The committee said the law permits that help “so long as [it] does not interfere with military preparedness or military requirements.” But “modernization programs, such as the Armored Gun System,” a $140-million-plus item the Pentagon said wasn’t really needed given budget constraints, “have been canceled because of a lack of funds.”

So the committee concluded that “providing $3.5 million for this program qualifies as interference with military preparedness and military requirements.”