Sequestration Cuts Could Hurt PA, Fort Indiantown Gap
Military looks to cut $34 billion with cuts to defense budget
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Few Americans can likely define "sequestration," but since the "fiscal cliff" is over, it's time to update your political vocabulary.
The nation's politicians are seeking to shrink the country's spending, and one place the government wants to cut back is through military spending.
"The cuts scheduled to begin March 1 take a huge bite out of the federal budget, including the military," said a report on WHPTV.com. "Those cuts will take a disproportionally large chunk out of military spending in Pennsylvania."
The state seems to be more hardly hit than others in the country. According to statistics in USAToday, Pennsylvania will be the tenth hardest hit state in the United States.
The Commonwealth is slated to lose 10,414 military jobs with the scheduled cuts. Many of the losses will hurt the National Guard.
"About 96 percent of our budget is federally funded, so sequestration would have a significant impact on our readiness," Major Angela King-Sweigart of Fort Indiantown Gap told WHPTV.
King-Sweigart told PennLive.com that the cuts will have an "impact on our operations and our readiness."
"Everything is contingent and conditional on what Congress does with sequestration," she said.
King-Sweigart said that Fort Indiantown Gap, in Lebanon County, receives about $751 million, or about 96 percent of its annual budget, from the federal government in an interview with PennLive.
Lovingly refered to as "The Gap" by reserves, is a stop on most of the nation's reserve members itinerary. It serves as a pre-deployment stop for training.
"Fort Indiantown Gap is one of the busiest National Guard training sites in the country, training more than 100,000 troops each year," said the Gap's website. "The installation serves as a pre-deployment training site for all branches of our military as they prepare for a variety of operating environments including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Africa as well as preparing for our homeland defense mission. Our commitment to training support excellence is also extended to law enforcement professionals and other government agencies at the federal, state and local levels."
With the lost of 12 to 13 percent of funds, the Gap would lose between $90 million and $98 million for its budget.
WHPTV said that the loss is happening across the country, but not at even levels across all states.
"The plan for now is for the vast majority of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian workers to be furloughed for one day a week beginning in April, meaning a 20 percent pay reduction," said the site.
The Gap alone is looking at asking employees to take 22 days of furlough each as a starting point to saving funds in the coming year's budget.
Jack Minster
2:47 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Shrink spending?
So far, 34 companies taking federal money from the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy and other agencies funded by taxpayers are faltering — either bankrupt or laying off workers or heading for bankruptcy. $$ Billions. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies got from we taxpayers even higher.
1,900 investigations were opened to look into stimulus waste, fraud, and abuse, leading to 600 convictions. Of that $80 billion in clean energy loans, grants, and tax credits, at least 10% went to companies that since went bankrupt or are circling the drain.
While the Obama Administration plays at business, picking winners and losers using our earned income as their casino chips, our military, currently the best in the world, gets hosed. Pennsylvania weakens, so does the nation's defense.
When a shark bites me, how can I get angry? It's just doing what a shark does, forever bound by the limitations of its shark nature, regarding me as food. I'm not angry with Obama and the other elected Federal Democrats. I'm angry with voters who repeatedly get chunks bitten out of them and keep diving back in for more. Of the 10,414 military Pennsylvanians facing imminent joblessness - how many voted twice for Obama?
What can be said of doing the same thing over and over, each time expecting a different result.
Good facts, thanks Ms. Treacy.
Robert Gesek
3:39 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Keep Blaming Obama and not the Gop Obstructions. They are still on Vacation and quite frankly looks as if they could give a shit. Yet how many of those military voted for the likes of Boehner, Oconnell, Cantor, Bachman ect -------these Tea baggers who will do anything to disrupt this Presidents agenda and drive this country right over the edge. Keep worrying about closing planned parenthood and being able to own Military assault rifles instead of worrying about the people of this nation. We Need to CLEAN the HOUSE in 2014
Tim Lewis
9:37 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
HaHaHaHaHaHa! Good one, Robert. This whole thing was the President's idea.
Curmudgeon
3:24 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
This is total BS. If we are to believe our President, the whole federal government will come crashing down (maybe not all bad). It's amazing what $45 billion can affect, but is so little when they want to spend it. This is less $$ than the SANDY RELIEF package, which was not offset by spending cuts. It costs 10x times more (according to John Stossel's reporting) to fund the TSA than if private industry was responsible for it. Oh my, 100,000 less federal workers, and fees going directly to the costs of the program, not swallowed up by the bureacracy. Even the R's are full of it. THIS IS A DECREASE in the increase of spending.
Curmudgeon
5:01 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
@Robert: Wasn't the President just on vacation in Fla. playing golf with Tiger. Does it give you pleasure to discribe somone with a vulgar, degrogatory term. I'm sure you use the "N" word all the time as well as faggot to describe gay people. Your use of vulgarity shows lack of education and the inability to put cogent thoughts together, but alas, what can we expect from open minded, tolerant liberals.
Ben Phillips
5:32 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
The whole world is going to end because the government is only going to spend $3.5 trillion dollars instead of 3.55 trillion dollars.
andthatsthetruth
5:38 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
My only confusion with the whole deal is that growing up with Willow Grove Naval Air Station, why couldn't the writing on the wall be seen by everyone then? Somehow it was recommended to eliminate our military facilities to eliminate operation waste $$$. Then they could utilize funds left over for other "in the drink
financial woes". You keep up on all the statistics & keep us informed on numbers so I am not gonna par take on that. You & I know a lot of National Reserves & this shut down either moved them out of the area or retired them. Narrowing down the armed forces again. You have to realize that Obama is not making the actual decisions, They are voting on this remember? He just signs to make it official. So stop blaming him. It is time to clean out the White House on non-participators. Maybe narrow down their tenure of participation instead of when they die. Throw a year on them that the number of terms has ended. ( Like the President. ) They are just as eccentric as the billionaires that they protect.
Why do people think that the President is not entitled to time off - which basically not time off, he still keeps a pulse of all that is going on, it's just a change in scenery. He cannot help that wherever he decides to go increases the rates to facilitate a profit. You would do the same if it were you.
Jack Minster
6:10 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Romney said he would tie military spending to 4% of GDP and pointed out the devastating $1 trillion in cuts set to hit our military via sequestration. Obama stated flatly, "[those] cuts will not happen." The cuts, a result of Obama's failure to lead on deficit reduction, he signed into law August 2, 2011.
Obama owns the sequestered military cuts, also this list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:
Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
Solyndra ($535 million)*
Beacon Power ($43 million)*
Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
SunPower ($1.2 billion)
First Solar ($1.46 billion)
Babcock & Brown ($178 million)
Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
Amonix ($5.9 million)
Fisker Auto ($529 million)
Abound Solar ($400 million)*
A123 Systems ($279 million)*
Willard & Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
Johnson Controls ($299 million)
Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
ECOtality ($126.2 million)
Raser Tech ($33 million)*
Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
Mountain Plaza ($2 million)*
Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
Range Fuels ($80 million)*
Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
GreenVolts ($500,000)
Vestas ($50 million)
LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
Navistar ($39 million)
Satcon ($3 million)*
Konarka Technologies ($20 million)*
Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)
patrick
8:18 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Jack,
I appreciate the fact that you have corrected some misinformation on other posts, after having someone bring it to your attention. Well, I randomly fact checked VESTAS(on your list). Vestas had their most profitable year,last year. Their stock is at it's second highest level, ever. I have accused you of misinformation, and here we go again. I select one company, on your list, and your wrong about it. It makes me think that if you repeat a lie enough times, people will believe it. In today's world, with information at our fingertips, this strategy only works with people who don't have the resources to investigate. These people are already voting republican. The GOP is a shrinking party. You need to EXPAND your base, not limit it.
republican=dumb losers
Jack Minster
8:28 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/31631554-79db-11e2-9015-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LdMMO900
Vestas. 4 days ago. Circling the drain and caught cooking the books. If Obama is going to invest your tax dollars in high-risk green energy companies, Patrick, considering your Party railed against Romney for offshoring some of Bain's acquired companies, don't you think these investments should be limited to U.S. high-risk enterprises?
Democrat=hypocrisy?
patrick
8:56 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Jack, it's been over a year that we've been debating and I just gave you your props for correcting an error. Well, pass the fork. It's my turn to eat crow. Stock down 95%, audited for unaccepted accounting principles. As for Bain, there is a big difference between a foreign company creating jobs, in the US and a US company sending jobs to a foreign country.
republican=stupid(except for Jack's little nugget of gold here today-proving even a blind squirrel finds a nut, sometimes)
Jack Minster
9:16 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
I always thought that the purpose of a business is to make a profit for its equity owners, Patrick. I didn't know its purpose is actually to create employment for U.S. citizens who vote to increase taxes on owners. Thank you for clarifying. The progressive liberal [Democrat] definition of an entrepreneur is someone dedicated to living for the sake of other men while expecting decreased rights to the fruits of his mind and best efforts.
Democrat=entitlement looters?
patrick
9:32 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Jack, your right. The purpose of businesses is to do what's in the best interest of it's shareholders (create profit for it's owners, usually), but the purpose of gov't is to do what's in the best interest of it's constituency(provide security, while providing individual freedoms, usually). Seperate goals for seperate entities. By the way, do you know that progressives and liberals are different? Similiarly to tea-baggers, conservative christians, and Chamber of Commerce republicans. Libertarians and christians usually disagree on the course of gov't, but both trend republican.
democrat= small government and fiscal responsibility
patrick
11:03 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Bye-bye piggy, less military-industrial pork for you. It takes a democrat to shrink gov't and control spending. Progressive means fiscal-minded, small gov't,
pro-women, pro-education, pro-rights, and anti-stupid. We'll leave that group for the GOP.
republican=stupid
Eric J
8:18 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Lets just be honest the President sucks at his job we all know it. But the elected congress of GOP and Dems aren't helping the situation because neither of them really care about the average American. "you can't fix stupid" . America needs a political revolution for the average America, this something neither party can do or would do.
Joe The Nerd Ferraro
8:46 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
The GOP was the outfit who voted to make the Sequester a reality.
If it were President Obama's it would mark the first time the GOP Congress did what the President wanted.
Mike Shortall
2:07 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Fact is, the concept and mechanism of the sequestration was The WHite House's (i.e. The President's) creation. Jack Lew (Chief-of-Staff then) and Rob Nabor (WH Congressional liaison) dreamed it up. The President agreed with it as a concept to propose to Congress and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accepted it as a strategy for the debt ceiling negotiations in 2011.
Try to blame the House for it if you can. But we all know that the President got what he wanted in December-January with increased taxes on the wealthier. He agreed to negotiate on significant budget cuts as a result of that fiscal cliff agreement. He reneged on his word.
That's why we're here.
Joe The Nerd Ferraro
6:17 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The term sequestration, as its known in the federal government, was created by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act of 1985 - See more at: http://fedscoop.com/fedscoop-guide-sequestration/#sthash.3KMr5Isw.dpuf
Mike Shortall
10:50 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Got me there, Joe! The White House didn't "create" it if you insist on a literal interpretation. It was still their idea to suggest and use it 27 years later!
John Q. Public
8:55 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
According to the liberal news outlets CNN and MSNBC, both claim that BHO was the Sequester's author, and it passed with overwhelming Democrat support. Also, it doesn't reduce spending! We will spend more than last year, but at a slightly (22 billion) reduced rate. Not a big deal. There's also a plan for 1 trillion in cuts over the next ten years, but that will never happen.
Joe The Nerd Ferraro
8:59 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
nothing would have happened without the GOP voting for it.
THEY OWN IT !!!!
HA HA HA
Mike Shortall
2:09 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Nice try, Joe. BUt sticking your fingers in your ears and wailing away on that song doesn't make the facts any less true.
The White House dreamed up sequestration!
Joe The Nerd Ferraro
6:18 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The term sequestration, as its known in the federal government, was created by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act of 1985 - See more at: http://fedscoop.com/fedscoop-guide-sequestration/#sthash.3KMr5Isw.dpuf
Goldwater Conservative
10:31 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Nothing could have happened without the Democratic Senate voting for it and the President making it the law. Where are the Presidents or the Senate budget? Misfeasance, Nonfeasance or maybe just Malfeasance.
The Sequester represents just 72 hours of government spending and they run around and scream like the sky is falling.
Lee
11:50 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Agree again Goldwater, if only more reporters could explain that in their headlines.
Lee
4:46 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Indian Gap is key location for national security between the big metros of DC and NYC. I seriously doubt anything will be extracted from their budgets, plus the title of the story is leading reads "could" not will. God bless our National Guard men and women. :)
Mike Shortall
2:11 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Unfortunately, those people will also be looking at 20% downtime due to sequestration-triggered furloughs. You can thank President Obama!
Lee
8:37 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Nothing Happened, see it was a fake out.
erere
10:58 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
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