Capitol Budget Disputes to Impact Georgia

Current budgetary disputes in Washington are soon going to be felt in Georgia.

Tamar Hallerman writes about the ongoing issue in a recent article for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A lack of consensus in Congress has increased difficulties in finalizing budgets. Lawmakers have been resorting to using high stakes tactics—leveraging the entire government’s funding—in order to get Congress to pass necessary budget bills. Congress has until September 30th to come up with a solution for current monetary disputes in order to avoid a shutdown.

A continuing resolution would leave funding at approximately 1/3 of what government institutions would have received otherwise.

A shutdown—or even a continuing resolution—would have a huge impact across the Peach State, on the military, especially.  Georgia’s 7 military bases are an enormous part of both national security and the state economy (they generated $20 billion in 2012).

Specifically, a reduction in funding would significantly delay upgrading of the country’s 16 instrumental—and aging—JSTAR planes, located exclusively at Middle Georgia’s Robbins Air Force Base. Upgrades to GPS and RADAR receivers in planes based at Valdosta’s Moody Air Force Base would also be cut short. The Augusta area’s Fort Gordon would also be forced to hold off on completing a fully functional cybercommand headquarters.

The increased tension of an election year has many worrying that the Department of Defense will be cut short in budget negotiation. Capitol Hill is full of blame and finger-pointing. However, many members of Congress are taking initiative to move forward.  “I understand the cynicism,” says Senator David Perdue, “but that’s not a license to not do anything.”