06.02.06
As Fort Hood Tightens budget Rep. Carter Heads To The Border
Yesterday it was announced that Fort Hood is having money problems:
Effective Thursday, Fort Hood is instituting some cost-cutting measures as the Army tries to stretch its funding to cover the cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at least until mid-summer.
As U.S. House and Senate conferees try to hammer out a compromise immigration reform measure, Rep. John Carter, R-Georgetown will join other House members on the tour of the border Friday in El Paso.
Fort Hood is much more important to Rep. Carter’s constituency than the border. What type of things will our troops have to do without because of this “severe budget crunch”?
In addition to the “100 percent civilian hiring freeze,” other cutbacks will reduce custodial contracts, on-post housing referrals, grounds maintenance contracts and government vehicle contracts, officials said.
Additionally, pest management contracts were “severely” cut and other services were “significantly” reduced, officials said.
Estimated savings from the measures were not disclosed. Additional information about the cuts and their impact on the area economy was not immediately available.
That’s great. In this time of war make the soldiers pay even more of a price. I think Fort Hood would be better served if the money to pay for it’s seventh gym was used to make up this shortfall instead of making severe cutbacks.