Looming defense-spending cuts fuel worries at JBLM, elsewhere

The boom times are over for the nation’s military.

After more than doubling in the last 10 years, Pentagon budgets are in for big cuts in coming years. No one knows exactly what will be cut or how deeply the cuts will go, but everyone knows they’re coming.

It’s already evident at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where leaders are sending out signals that cuts are on the horizon after a decade of growth.

Defense cutbacks would hit hard, including the ranks of civilian contractors and military suppliers around Lewis-McChord. The base employed some 15,000 civilians in 2009. It has instituted a hiring freeze for most jobs.

Across the nation, it’s a similar story, reflected by simple numbers: Defense spending hit a record high of $553 billion this year, excluding the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And it must be cut by $350 billion over the next 10 years, under the debt-limit agreement passed by Congress last month.

But that’s just the beginning: If Congress’ supercommittee doesn’t reach agreement in the next two months on a plan to reduce the nation’s deficit by at least $1.2 trillion, automatically-triggered cuts would slash as much as $600 billion from defense and security programs over the next decade.

The uncertainty is creating much angst across the nation, particularly in Washington state and other places that rely heavily on U.S. defense spending.

Military families are watching the wrangling over the nation’s deficit with particular unease. Many troops and their families fret that pay and retirement benefits will suffer in coming years, even though no specific proposals have been announced.

But with Pentagon officials promising to take a hard look at the military pension plan as just one way to cut costs, Sheena Switzer, 23, is already worried that her husband Joe, an Iraq War veteran, might not receive any retirement pay.

“If we stick this out for 20 years and they don’t give you a pension, then we just wasted 20 years,” said Switzer, whose husband is now a member of Lewis-McChord’s 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans alike are concerned that less military spending would hurt local economies and lead to job losses. The specter of the automatic cuts is most worrisome to many members.

“You’d have a major, major cut in defense – it’s unacceptable,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, a longtime proponent of defense spending and the top-ranked Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. “There’s no way to speculate what would happen. But I think at some point – if there are cuts of that magnitude – there would have to be a reduction in force.”

Large defense contractors, including Chicago-based Boeing – which received nearly half of its revenue from federal contracts last year – are warning that national security will be jeopardized if the cuts are too big.

“Getting our financial house in order is important, but it can’t be the only thing that defines our nation or our future,” Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told the Aero Club of Washington.

'NEW ENVIRONMENT' AT LEWIS-McCHORD

Leaders at Lewis-McChord say they will await final specifics on their budgets from the Pentagon.

Since 2001, the Defense Department has poured $1.7 billion into construction projects at the base while it nearly doubled the number of active-duty soldiers stationed there to 34,000.

Jay Ebbeson, spokesman for Madigan Army Medical Center, said the hospital is cautious about filling open positions. It’s also working to become more efficient as it reduces expenses that aren’t directly related to patient care.

“It is a new environment; it’s a new time,” Ebbeson said. “We’re watching how we do things.”

The hospital’s budget grew from $439 million in 2009 to $507 million in this fiscal year. Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, commander of the Army’s Western Region Medical Command, said the hospital will receive the funding it needs to support its 100,000 users.

JC Matthews, a base spokesman, said Lewis-McChord is preparing to make difficult budget choices. He anticipates tight restrictions on new civilian hires, strict control of contracts, slimming down the base’s non-military vehicle fleet, cutting back on office travel and closing underutilized dining facilities.

Most of the base’s Army and Air Force units expect to receive full funding for operations that are related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while they scale back on other expenses.

For example, Lewis-McChord’s 62nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force unit that delivers supplies around the world, is cutting its administrative budget by 10 percent to $2.3 million for the 2012 budget year.

“It’s going to take some shifting of our priorities,” said Jessica Smith, the air wing’s financial officer. “The commanders will have to decide what’s most important.”

She said the cutbacks won’t jeopardize the air wing’s mission to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s holding the line on the $600 million it has set aside for flights, fuel and training for the war effort.

Defense industry representatives who watch the base closely haven’t heard specifics, but they say contractors anticipate less work as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down.

Brice Barrett, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition, said companies that work to support Lewis-McChord as it deploys soldiers overseas likely will lose revenue.

“Everyone understands that there are cuts coming in the industry and those cuts in the direst circumstances can be very deep,” Barrett said.

ALL EYES ON SUPERCOMMITTEE

The size of the defense cuts will be decided, either directly or indirectly, by the 12-member super committee created by Congress as part of its debt-limit agreement.

Defense advocates are comforted that the committee, which began meeting two weeks ago, is headed by two members who represent states with a large military presence: Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas. And one of its members, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, has vowed to resign from the panel if it tries to approve a plan with more defense cuts.

Dicks said he hopes that members of Congress “come to our senses“ to avoid automatic cuts, a process known as sequestration.

He said he remains optimistic that the super committee will get Congress to pass a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan that includes changes in entitlement programs and an increase in tax revenues. And he said he’s confident that Murray, his home-state senator and a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, will help avert automatic defense cuts.

“Definitely, this would be a big blow – that’s why we have to reach an agreement,” Dicks said. “They’ve got to get something done. ... I think we can do it. I just keep my fingers crossed. Patty is now a very senior senator, and she is going to have to work this out with the Republicans.”

FACING 'THE ABYSS'

Marion Blakey, president and chief executive officer of the American Aerospace Industries, said the possibility of large automatic cuts is “the abyss” facing members of the super committee. And she said the economic risks are very high, with the aerospace and defense industry supporting 2.9 million jobs in all 50 states.

“Make no mistake – combining the cuts already incurred and the potential for more defense cuts, hundreds of thousands of American workers’ jobs are at risk,” she said at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.

Of course, many are cheering at the thought of a scaled-down Pentagon.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who long has called for less Pentagon spending, is among those who want the super committee to focus first on defense cuts as a way to reduce the deficit. Last year, Frank helped create a task force that studied defense spending and then recommended cuts of $960 billion between 2011 and 2020.

REINING IN COSTS

And just last week, a pair of unlikely allies – the U.S. Public Interest Group and the National Taxpayers Union – proposed cutting $429 billion from the Department of Defense, saying the department has a number of programs that “waste vital resources.”

As they work to rein in costs, Pentagon officials have already acknowledged that they’re looking at everything, including pension costs.

President Barack Obama heightened concerns for families last week by proposing changes in the now-free health insurance plan that the Defense Department offers to retirees and military families: They’d have to pay $200 a year for health coverage if Congress adopts the plan.

VALUING SERVICE

Switzer is familiar with watching the machinations of Congress. In April, when members of Congress nearly shut down the federal government in a dispute over spending, she feared that she would have to miss bill payments. She said her family of five couldn’t afford to skip a check.

That budget standoff left her convinced that the nation’s political leaders didn’t value the service of her husband.

“We do this for more than one reason,” she said. “We love America, we have families to support, we have kids that need to be taken care of and we work our butts off doing it. We don’t want to work for years and find people don’t appreciate it.”

She worries when she hears talk of ending the military’s pensions in favor of voluntary 401K plans that would take a piece of her family’s income.

But like many young families, the Switzers don’t have money to save. They have three kids and a car payment to juggle on a junior enlisted soldier’s salary. They receive food stamps and have about $150 left for groceries after they pay their bills from each biweekly paycheck.

Treating their kids on their birthdays means saving up for three months, Switzer said. And they take out loans to visit their families in northern Kentucky each year, paying back the money with their tax refunds.

“We’re not living in luxury; we’re on the poverty line,” she said. “It’s not like we’re taking all the taxpayers’ money and we’re floating in dough. I use my coupons and I live like everyone else.”

Rob Hotakainen: 202-383-0009
rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com

Adam Ashton: 253-597-8646
adam.ashton@thenewstribune.com