Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday announced he will pursue another
round of base closings as part of a Pentagon budget that cuts military
spending as the nation faces mounting debt and two wars wind down.
The budget put forth by Panetta does not single out any specific bases
for closure however the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station is likely to face a
close examination if the process receives congressional approval because the
plan calls for the Air Force to decommission about 65 of one of the type of
cargo planes, the C-130, housed at the base.
The call to convene another base closure commission brings back an
acronym familiar to many residents on the Niagara Frontier: BRAC, or a Base
Realignment and Closure commission. During that process, last undertaken in
2005 under the Bush administration, the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station was
originally included on the list of proposed closures, but following an intense
lobbying effort by the region's congressional delegation and a massive
outpouring of public support for the air base in the form of letter-writing
and petition campaigns, BRAC commissioners reversed their initial decision and
opted to keep the base open.
The air base is the county's single largest employer.
Area lawmakers were quick to express their concerns about another round
of base closures.
Congressional representatives traditionally lobby heavily against any
closures that cause job losses and decreased federal spending in their
districts. Especially in an election year, the political backlash will likely
be intense.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a member of the Senate's Armed
Services Committee, released a statement airing her opposition to base
closures.
"I am concerned... about the mention of a BRAC round, which can be very
harmful to the economic well-being of many communities, without producing
significant savings," she said. "I think we should not rush any BRAC
proposal."
Congressional Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Kathy Hochul,
D-Buffalo, also expressed their opposition.
"The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station is an important part of the
military, our nation's national security, and the Western New York community,"
Hochul said. "As a new member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have
already held personal meetings with senior military officials, and have
communicated with the Administration about the importance of this
installation."
Slaughter, who was involved in the last effort to save the air base, said
she is ready if necessary to do so again.
"We know how difficult defense cutbacks and BRAC commissions are because
of all the work it took in 2005 to save the base," Slaughter said. "I've said
it before and I'll say it again, the Niagara Falls air base deserves to be the
crown jewel of the Air Force. I've been proud to join my colleagues in
conversations about the importance of the Air Base for Western New York and
the United States military."
Panetta said the administration will ask Congress for $525 billion to run
the Pentagon in 2013 -- $6 billion less than the current budget. War costs,
which are not considered part of the base budget, would decline from $115
billion to $88 billion, reflecting the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from
Iraq.
The base budget would then increase in each year of the Pentagon's
five-year plan, reaching $567 billion in 2017. A year ago the Pentagon had
projected 2017 spending to reach $622 billion. The Pentagon counts those
reductions in projected future spending as "defense savings."
When Obama took office in January 2009 the Pentagon's base budget was
$513 billion. In 2001 it was $297 billion.
Under a budget deficit-cutting deal Congress made last summer, the
Pentagon is committed to reducing projected spending by $487 billion over the
next 10 years. The plan Panetta presented Thursday covers the first five years
of that span and would cut a cumulative total of $259 billion in planned
spending.
