AL.com | Huntsville and Madison County business leaders, lawmakers look to dodge deep budget cuts

Huntsville and Madison County business leaders, lawmakers look to dodge deep budget cuts
By Curtis Coghlan | The Huntsville Times | May 6, 2012

For the thousands of people in the U.S. armed forces and thousands of contractors that support and do business with the military, times are uncertain. Especially here in the Tennessee Valley.

Cuts to the Defense Department budget voted on by Congress could total nearly $1 trillion - $500 billion of which will come in automatic spending cuts next year in so-called "sequestration" - if Congress and President Obama can't agree on a plan to cut the federal deficit.

It is with this dark scenario swirling over the Pentagon that a large contingent of anxious business and political leaders descended on Washington to lobby our members of Congress to do everything they can to keep the deep cuts from going into effect.

Times writer Lee Roop also attended many of the meetings and presentations from Alabama's congressmen and senators and other congressional staff and leaders to gather reports for this special edition of Business First. In addition, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, and Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, describe how they are approaching the budget battles that would affect North Alabama in "The View from D.C."

Lightfoot described the challenges the agency will face in the next few years, including developing the new massiveSpace Launch System, partnerships with commercial space companies, and a strategy to explore Mars.Robert Lightfoot, the former director ofMarshall Space Flight Center and current acting associate administrator of NASA, told the chamber delegation that because the space agency got a funding bill "we're pretty stable" and "so fortunate."

Sessions said that while every part of the federal budget, including defense, must be searched for savings, the military "should not be forced to accept disproportionate cuts."

"Defense is a core, vital function of government. The path of Europe - growing the government while slashing defense - is the wrong path for America," Sessions said.

Brooks said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the House Armed Services Committee, of which he is a member, will be able to stop "sequestration's threats and effects" next year.

"The spending cut remedy requires cutting the right spending," he said. He said spending that produces a return on dollars spent, or is earned and paid for, like Social Security, must be protected. But unearned entitlement programs, foreign aid, and other lesser priorities should be cut.

Aderholt said his priorities continue to be investing in defense projects that are vital to our national security and funding NASA. "The work happening at Marshall will keep the United States on pace as the world leader in space exploration and technical development."

If you would like to read this article online, please click here.