When defense giant Northrop Grumman moves into your backyard, asking Congress for Pentagon cuts is just asking for trouble. Four Montgomery County Council members have thrown their support behind a proposed resolution that urges the federal government to cut Pentagon spending in an effort to raise funds for local government initiatives.
In Fairfax County, however, members of the Board of Supervisors say putting forth such a proposal is the wrong approach in a county dominated by defense contractors.
It’s no secret that both counties rely heavily on the defense industry for jobs. Northrop Grumman moved its company headquarters to Fairfax County last month, joining General Dynamics and SAIC in a county where four of the top 10 employers are defense contractors, according to 2010 census statistics. That’s enough to make some county officials think twice about suggesting defense cuts.
“We are way too beholden in Virginia on robust defense spending,” said county Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee. “We want to protect those jobs. And if we have major cutbacks in jobs and defense spending in Northern Virginia, that’s going to affect our local budget.”
The Montgomery County resolution argues that cuts in state revenue have hurt the county’s ability to fund county services like education, health care and public safety, and that reducing Pentagon spending would “free up” billions of dollars that could be allocated to struggling local governments.
Fairfax County also needs federal assistance for education and infrastructure initiatives, McKay said, but it’s not likely supervisors would ask for Pentagon cuts to secure that assistance. Major defense cuts could affect the local job market and require the county to make budget cuts of its own, he said, and it would be more prudent to ask the federal government for cuts in other departments.
In addition, the county doesn’t typically take positions on federal policy issues, said Supervisor John Foust, D-Dranesville.
Still, county officials say they’re prepared for defense cuts. Dan Scandling, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Virginia, said the congressman believes “everything needs to be on the table” when it comes to setting the federal budget — including defense.
