Government painting grim picture of cuts

Federal agencies in line for the budget ax are spelling out far-reaching and sometimes frightening effects if Congress and the White House can’t reach agreement on a method of delaying mandatory government spending cuts that go into effect on Friday.

Failure to compromise means $85 billion in across-the-board cuts, roughly half in defense spending, through Sept. 30. The reductions in defense spending could land a blow to the economy in the St. Louis region given the presence of Scott Air Force Base and Boeing Co.’s Defense, Space and Security unit.

Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville, told reporters last week that the cuts would be widely felt.

“There’ll be probably fewer cars sold, and there’ll be fewer boats purchased and fewer neckties purchased,” he said.

Democrats have proposed a combination of tax increases and spending cuts, including a tax on income above $1 million and repeal of tax breaks for oil companies. Spending cuts would include a reduction in farm subsidies, which would be felt in Missouri and Illinois.

Republicans thus far have insisted that the cuts must come on the spending side of the ledger.

“It is mind-boggling to me that the Republican leadership voted for sequestration,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said in St. Louis on Friday, illustrating the back-and-forth accompanying what has been a leisurely pace of negotiating up to now.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told officials in the administration of President Barack Obama in a Senate hearing last week that he was “confused” by the notion that not enough spending cuts could be found, given recent tax increases. “We have $60 billion in new revenue this year that we wouldn’t have had last year, but we can’t find $85 billion worth of cuts,” he said.

Seeking to ratchet up pressure on Congress, the White House released on Sunday evening a state-by-state breakdown of impacts if a compromise isn’t reached.

In Missouri, the Obama administration warned, the full weight of the sequester would reduce the gross pay of roughly 8,000 Defense Department civilian employees by more than $40 million through furloughs in addition to Army and Air Force spending cuts totaling more than $80 million. Missouri also stands to lose $11.9 million in funding for primary and secondary education; $3.8 million for environmental funding; and $1.2 million in grants for fish and wildlife protection.

In Illinois, pay reductions for furloughed Defense Department employees would total more than $80 million, in addition to nearly $30 million in spending cuts at military installations, the White House said.

Other potential Illinois reductions could include nearly $58 million in education spending; $6.4 million in environmental spending; and nearly $1 million for fish and wildlife protection.

Boeing spokesman Dan Beck said his company had made no decisions regarding the St. Louis-made F/A-18 fighters or the F-15 aircraft made locally that are sold internationally.

But, he added: “Clearly, this is going to have a deep impact on the industry, on individual companies and their suppliers. We’ve been taking steps to prepare for this for some time.”

Scott Air Force Base stands to experience pains that would be felt throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. Scott has roughly a 13,000-strong workforce, including civilian employees, and generates $3 billion annually for southwestern Illinois and the region.

Scott officials have told Congress that they would need to institute once-a-week, 22-day furloughs for 4,500 nonessential employees, which would translate to a 20 percent pay cut for the remainder of the fiscal year.

That cut alone amounts to a $28 million economic loss locally, according to a tabulation offered by the office of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin, who recently became chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, planned to visit Scott today, accompanied by Enyart.

The base earlier implemented a hiring freeze and trimmed spending not critical to missions with a reduction of flying hours, an end to air show flyovers and cancellation of nonessential training and travel.

Ellen Krohne, executive director of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, wrote in an op-ed on Friday that “it’s more than jobs and livelihoods at stake. Missions of Scott and our national security could be jeopardized, and that’s an end result that simply isn’t acceptable.”

If no remedy for sequester can be found, federal programs and government employees would be affected under the blunt instrument of across-the-board reductions spelled out when the cuts were devised in 2011.

Several key spending programs were exempted, including Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps, veterans’ benefits and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Most federal employees in the St. Louis region would probably see unpaid furloughs of varying lengths. Regional employees of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Arnold, for example, have been informed to expect across-the-board furloughs should the sequester go foward.

Moreover, the Gateway Arch could expect reduced hours. Air traffic control facilities could be closed at smaller airports in Missouri and Illinois. And hundreds of people locally could feel interruption in program benefits ranging from mental health services to HIV testing to treatment for substance abuse.

The Coalition on Human Needs, a Washington nonprofit, estimates that Missouri would see a $7 million cut in federal aid to Head Start programs and benefit cuts to 10,000 mothers and children in the WIC program

In Illinois, Head Start — a Health and Human Services program for low-income families — would see a $16 million cut, and WIC (Women, Infants & Children) funds would be cut for 19,700, according to the coalition.

It is unlikely that the full measure of cuts being described will take place, a prospect that would entail both sides’ sticking to their guns. Questions of military readiness could well force a compromise soon even if the March 1 deadline is missed, many in Congress believe.

The Army has warned that cuts could curtail short training for the vast majority of ground forces, a step that would extend tours of duties of soldiers in Afghanistan. In addition, most of the 800,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department would face unpaid furloughs.

The latest Washington crisis has its roots in the summer of 2011, when Washington deal-makers reached a compromise that spelled out devices for cutting the nation’s spiraling debt. The sequester was designed as an incentive for a “super-committee” to cut $1.5 trillion in spending over 10 years, which didn’t happen.

The sequester was due to hit Jan. 1, but it was put off amid predictions that surely by March 1 a compromise could be found. But such a deal has been elusive.

Following are some of the warnings by federal agencies in letters to Congress and news releases about potential impacts of the sequester:

Federal Aviation Administration • The FAA said Friday that it was considering closing more than 100 air traffic control facilities and eliminating overnight shifts at more than 60 airports in order to achieve $600 million in cuts. Missouri airports identified for potential closing of air traffic operations include those in Jefferson City, Columbia, Branson, Joplin and St. Joseph. In Illinois, airports serving Carbondale/Murphysboro, Marion, Springfield and Bloomington could see air traffic operations curtailed.

Food Safety Inspection Service • The Agriculture Department unit warned that because of $51 million in potential cuts and furloughs of employees, “consumers could experience a shortage of meat, poultry and egg products available for public consumption.” Livestock farmers might need to feed their animals longer because of market difficulties due to a shortage of inspectors.

Transportation Safety Administration • Furloughs of TSA screeners could result in passenger wait times of an additional hour at busy airports.

National Park Service • The agency announced plans to cut hours and visitor services in order to slash $110 million in spending and might close camping, hiking and other recreational areas due to insufficient staff.

Justice Department • The FBI warned of a net reduction of 775 agents through furloughs and a hiring freeze.

Federal Emergency Management Agency • The government entity that responds to disasters said the sequester would reduce available relief funds by $1 billion.