Southwest Defense Alliance report: Sequestration will hurt Texas’ defense-related jobs and industry

  By Sheryl Jean sjean@dallasnews.com   Texas will be hit hard by the automatic federal spending cuts set to go into effect on Jan. 1 unless Congress acts, according to a new study by a multi-state coalition called the Southwest Defense Alliance.   The automatic spending cuts – also known as sequestration – could cost Texas 112,000 defense-related jobs, $6.1 billion in economic output and $1.8 billion in personal earnings in the next eight years, the report estimates.   That’s on top of earlier mandated cuts to the U.S. Department of Defense that will cut 135,000 jobs and reduce economic output by $7 billion and personal savings by $2.2 billion in the next eight years.   “We initiated this study to quantify the impacts on Southwestern states and provide data we felt important for our representatives to consider,” said retired U.S. Army Major General Dennis Kenneally, executive director of the Alliance. “It’s clear that these defense cuts will pummel Texas’ economy.”   The spending cuts would total $1.2 trillion from fiscal years 2013 through 2021 across all departments, the report said. The Defense Department accounts for 19 percent of the federal budget, but is slated to take half of the sequestration cuts, meaning the Pentagon must cut $492 billion in military spending over the next 10 years, it said.   Kenneally argues that it’s not just Texas’ military installations, bases and defense contractors that are at stake but the communities that serve them. Texas’ major military bases include:   Fort Hood: It’s the largest active duty armored post by population in the U.S. military.   Fort Bliss: At 1.12 million acres in Texas and New Mexico, it’s the U.S. Army’s second-largest installation after the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.   Joint Base San Antonio: It’s the Defense Department’s largest joint base, with more students and active runways than any other installation, the largest DOD hospital.   Laughlin Air Force Base: It conducts special undergraduate pilot training for the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and allied nation air forces.   The Alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization consisting of six Southwestern states: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.