Cuts in military budget would hit North Texas programs

Cuts in military budget would hit North Texas programs
01:41 AM CST on Monday, November 29, 2010
By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – After enjoying years of unchecked growth, the Defense Department is facing calls to slash its budget, with Texas-based weapons programs topping the menu of possible cuts.

The proposals are included in recent debt-reduction plans offered by groups such as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which was created by President Barack Obama.

The commission's co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson, fired the first shot earlier this month, listing defense cuts that would save more than $100 billion in 2015. Two more plans from other commission members followed, with both calling for big reductions in Pentagon spending.

All three plans call for taking the biggest bite out of procurement, a major source of federal funding for North Texas. Purchases of the Fort Worth-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would be cut in half, and the Amarillo-assembled V-22 Osprey would be canceled altogether. The F-25 (sic) is built by Lockheed-Martin, and the Osprey is a joint project of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. and Boeing Co.

The chance of those proposals becoming law – at least in the short term – appears remote. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has slammed the plans, saying their specifics were driven by "math, not strategy."



unhappycamper comment: Oh yea, the math gets in the way

They are a total waste. In fact, that is their purpose. Destroy, procure, destroy, procure, rinse, repeat.

cuts in the MIC are going to hurt those contractors and their employees, and congress will never approve it.

our defense budget is built from PORK, but brainwashed conservatives are so frightened of their own shadows that they think a military 10x the size of the next one is essential for defense against underwear bombs and toner cartridges.

war is the health of the nation.

as much as I despise them,they are one of the few who actually pay their employees decent wages.

Oh,that it weren't the case.

and why the teabaggers will scream bloody murder if they do - not that they could understand the concept of militarized socicalism.