MANASSAS, Va. — President Obama is set to sign a stop-gap spending bill that will stave off furloughs for some 800,000 civilian Department of Defense employees, at least for now.
Those furlough notices will be delayed until April 5 under the new agreement to give workers time to prepare for a mandatory 22 unpaid days of furlough.
The other thing that’s for certain: the measure set to be signed by the president will ensure $85 billion in cuts will remain on the board through the end fiscal year in September.
The Prince William Committee of 100 will meet tonight to discuss the impacts of those cuts. Sitting on the panel will be Virginia State Senator George Barker, D-Fairfax, Prince William, Prince William Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Government Affairs Nancy Hiteshue, Maurice McTigue, with the Government Accountability Project, and Delegate Richard Anderson, R-Prince William, who serves on the Virginia Commission on Military Installations and Defense Activities.
While the budget impacts, known as sequestration, haven’t fully been felt yet, Anderson said they’re coming.
“The reason why I didn’t vote for the governor’s transportation bill is because sequestration was going to take the form of furloughs for a large number of DoD civilians, on the order of one day a week, so you’re talking about a 20% reduction in take home pay, and in some households that is going to be a challenge,” said Anderson.
That transportation bill passed last month and means a reduction in the state’s 17.5 cent per gallon gas tax – a rate not touched in 27 years – to a 3.5% tax paid at the wholesale level. Other tax increases as part of the bill include the motor sales tax will be raised to 4.3%, owners of hybrids will pay a $100 annual license tax, and Virginia’s overall sales tax will go from 5 to 5.3%, and as high as 6% in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. The measure is expected to raise $800 million in new transportation funds.
As Federal workers, just like everyone else in the state, are staring down higher taxes, unlike previous with previous federal government furloughs, workers will not receive back pay, said Anderson.
And it’s not just federal worker-rich Northern Virginia that will feel the pinch. Already five aircraft carriers have been seen docked at Norfolk — the world’s largest naval port – prompting fears of everything from slowing government spending in Hampton Roads, and all of that concentrated military might could be nothing more than sitting ducks in the case of an attack similar to Pearl Harbor in 1941.
“Having spent 30 years in the military, I’d like to think I understand something about force levels, the correct use of military forces as an instrument of military power, and if you tie up the aircraft carriers – which are literally cities put to sea – it is a huge footprint that gives American forces a distinct advantage when that footprint is laid down offshore of some county that is doing, or contemplating doing a really bad thing,” said Anderson.
The Committee of 100’s program will be held tonight at the Four Points Sheraton at Va. 234 and Interstate 66 in Manassas. The program opens with a social half hour at 6 p.m., dinner will be served at 7 p.m., and the program open to the public begins at 7:45 p.m.
