Monday, April 29, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
The Air Force has compiled a list of how many civilians will have to be furloughed at each base to accommodate pending budget cuts, as well as how much the service will save per base.
The list, obtained by Inside the Air Force, shows that Robins Air Force Base, GA, will suffer the most civilian furloughs. The Air Force projects that it can save more than $110 million simply by placing 14,205 Robins AFB civilian workers on furlough, the document shows. Tinker Air Force Base, OK, would see 14,206 civilian furloughs, saving the Air Force more than $109 million. Also among the top three bases to feel the brunt impact of the furloughs is Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, which will see 12,595 civilians furloughed, providing the service with a savings of about $98 million.
Pentagon civilian employees also factor into those savings. To free up $16 million, the Air Force will have to furlough 2,052 civilian employees employed at the Pentagon. The service also plans to furlough 202 civilians working at the Russell-Knox Building in Quantico.
The Air Force is facing major budget cuts in March, which is why the service has prepared, in advance of those budget cuts, a base-by-base plan for the furloughs. On March 1, sequestration -- a $500 billion across-the-board budget cut that would impact the entire Defense Department, eating away at its financial plans for the next 10 years -- could be implemented if Congress cannot agree on an alternative budget plan that would spare DOD from the bulk of the budget cuts. In addition, the service faces the possibility of coping with a yearlong continuing resolution that, if implemented, would begin on March 27. The two budget cuts combined have made it difficult for the Air Force to prepare for future budgets and also forced the service to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
The Air Force has already has taken actions to alleviate some of the fiscal pressures that the combined budget cuts pose, such as instituting a hiring freeze and scaling back on some of its military construction projects.