Roby warns spending cuts could cripple Army, impact Ft. Rucker

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February 10, 2015

A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter prepares to depart Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on Jan 7, 2012. (Photo: Tech. Sgt. Matt Hecht)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL2) is warning her colleagues on Capitol Hill that defense cuts brought on by so called sequestration are threatening America’s military readiness and could negatively impact bases in Alabama, including Ft. Rucker.

In a letter sent to all members of the House, Roby and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) cited a recent Amry study that found that the service’s end strength will fall to 420,000, it’s lowest level since before 9/11, by 2019, unless Congress acts to stop the defense cuts.

“Inaction will put us further down the path of undermining our national security, local economies, and the livelihoods of military families who have sacrificed so much over the last thirteen years,” wrote Roby and Gabbard. “We believe alleviating the impact of sequestration on the military must be a top priority of the 114th Congress, and that there is the will within the Congress to do so.”

The Army’s top general agrees with the congressmen, according to a speech delivered late last year.

“We made assumptions that we wouldn’t be using Army forces in Europe the way we used to, we made assumptions that we wouldn’t go back into Iraq — and here we are back in Iraq, here we are worried about Russia again,” said Gen. Raymond Odierno, speaking at the Defense One Summit last November.

Roby and Gabbard added that the U.S. is facing threats now that were unforeseeable several years ago when the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts were put in place as a result of Congress not being able to work out a budget deal that made cuts more strategically. Specifically, the Islamic State has emerged as an ongoing security threat in Iraq and Syria and Russia’s incursions into Ukraine have threatened to destabilize that region as well.

“Considering the national security threats that we face today and the uncertain threats we will likely face tomorrow, Congress should not allow a dramatic reduction in the Army’s end strength or a similar reduction in the capabilities of the other service branches,” the congressmen wrote. “The world we face today is very different from the one we faced two years ago.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, as well as President Obama, are advocating for an end to the sequestration cuts, but no specific proposal has yet been floated.

(h/t The Hill)