Senate panel OKs budget that keeps C-130s at Texas base
Congress continued waging its fight against the Air Force Thursday when the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved next year's defense budget with wording that halts the service's cuts and realignments for at least one year.
The committee's 30-0 vote means that it is increasingly unlikely that the Air Force will be able to plan for the relocation of a squadron of C-130 Hercules aircraft from Naval Air Station Fort Worth to Great Falls, Mont., as it wanted to do in two years.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives versions of the fiscal year 2013 defense budget call for a "strategic pause" in the reduction of personnel and aircraft in the Air National Guard for one year, and both bills authorize more than $800 million in funding to continue the affected squadrons' current makeup.
The Senate's defense bill calls for $604 billion in funding, including money for operations in Afghanistan. The full House has already passed its version of a $605 billion defense budget.
Congress' fierce opposition to the Air Force's plans had already prompted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to freeze the service's plans until a long-term agreement can be reached.
Dozens of states found reason to object to the Air Force's budgetary reductions, such as retiring 151 aircraft and cutting 5,000 personnel in the Air National Guard.
Texas would be affected by moving the four-engine C-130s flown by the Texas Air National Guard's 136th Airlift Wing and replacing them with MC-12 Liberty aircraft, which are used for intelligence-gathering.
Elected leaders across Texas and the Gulf Coast, plus military leaders within the Texas National Guard, said that the Air Force would be stripping a vital element of their ability to respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters. Many accused the Defense Department and White House of trying to placate elected officials in Montana, which is represented by two Democrat senators.
The Air Force, however, has said that the changes are necessary to reduce its budget and still be able to conduct its worldwide obligations with the active-duty force.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said the one-year pause gives additional time to work on a long-term plan that satisfies the Defense Department and members of Congress.
"I will continue to make the case that there is no military advantage to moving these planes from their current location and that building a new facility to base them elsewhere takes funds from other vital defense needs," Hutchison said in a statement.
The Senate defense budget also contains $2.4 billion to reverse the Navy's plans to retire seven cruisers and two amphibious ships.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
