WASHINGTON – At an early morning meeting Thursday with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Arkansas delegation stood firmly together in support of the 188th Fighter Wing at Fort Smith.
“The secretary listened. He understands where we are coming from. I think he has a much more enlightened perspective of what the 188th means to the Air Force,” said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers.
The 2013 Air Force budget, which was announced in February, included a provision to replace the A-10 jets at Fort Smith with a drone aircraft mission.
The proposal has been strongly protested by Fort Smith area residents, who recently sent more than 2,000 letters to Panetta in opposition.
Panetta met privately with the Arkansas delegation for about half an hour inside Sen. Mark Pryor’s office. About 90 percent of the discussion focused on the 188th with the remainder of the time devoted to a proposal to end a C-130 avionics modernization program at Little Rock Air Force Base.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The delegation questioned the logic behind removing the A-10 mission from Fort Smith, saying that it is the most cost-effective A-10 unit in the Air Guard.
They also expressed their concerns over the Air Force’s reluctance to provide them with the details behind their decision.
“The Air Force has not shared numbers and analysis with us,” said Pryor, a Democrat. “As far as we know there isn’t an analysis. All we have seen is some generalities but not the details.”
Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Little Rock, said Panetta pledged to get them the details.
“I felt like he understands … this is a priority,” Griffin said.
Panetta may have little choice.
Just five hours before the delegation meeting, Griffin joined members of the House Armed Services Committee in approving a measure to require a full analysis of all the proposed mission changes before any can move forward.
The committee approved the 2013 defense authorization bill, 56-5, after a marathon 16-hour session that began at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The bill, which authorizes $554 billion for national defense and $88.5 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is expected to come before the full House next week.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has not drafted a 2013 defense authorization bill yet.
Griffin, who serves on the committee, voted for it. In particular, he supported provisions requiring comprehensive cost-benefit analyses for the C-130 and A-10 programs before any changes are made.
He also noted that the bill includes language that would ensure that Purple Hearts are awarded to Army Pvts. William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula. Long was killed and Ezeagwula wounded by a gunman outside a Little Rock recruiting center in 2009.
Pryor and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said that this was the first time in their experience that the entire delegation has met with the leader of the Department of Defense.
Reps. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, and Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, were also at the meeting.
Panetta hurried out of the meeting flanked by staff and a security contingent. Panetta held a press conference at the Pentagon later in the afternoon at which he cautioned Congress against tinkering with the Pentagon’s budget proposal.
“Congress has the right to question some of our decisions and make changes. But, Congress also has a responsibility to make sure that we project a strong national defense,” he said.
Panetta was directing his remarks primarily at House Republicans who pushed through legislation Thursday afternoon aimed at avoiding automatic defense cuts included in last year’s budget control act.
The bill, which was approved 233-183, would replace the defense cuts with cuts in social programs.
Panetta said the bill was unacceptable to President Obama and would be ill received by Senate Democrats.
The “guaranteed result” he said would be gridlock and a greater likelihood that Congress would fail to agree to a deficit reduction plan that would replace the across-the-board cut to the military.
“Nothing will happen without compromise,” Panetta said.
Griffin, who voted for the bill, said the plan would reduce the federal deficit by $242.8 billion over the next decade through “sensible and targeted savings.”