The Air Force is delaying certain pay and bonuses and extending deployments citing “higher-than-projected personnel costs” in a move reports are linking to Alabama lawmakers’ freeze on some Air Force spending amid the ongoing battle over the U.S. Space Command headquarters.
The Air Force announced today it is suspending the fiscal year selective reenlistment bonus, pausing the Aviation Bonus program until that program can be “restructured,” and pausing “new Assignment Incentive Pay.”
Also, the Air Force says, airmen “on overseas long tours with a DEROS between October- December 2023 will have their DREOS extended to January.” A DEROS date is the day an Air Force employee is expected to return from deployment overseas.
“The Air Force continues to work through additional options to avoid the funding shortfall and will provide more information when available,” the announcement said. The service said the cuts were “driven by higher-than-projected personnel costs.”
Some national media reports’ headlines say the spending cuts are coming “amid (the political feud) over the (Space) command’s permanent headquarters.” But those reports note that the Air Force “did not mention recent moves in Congress to curtail funding” in its announcement today.
Alabama lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated at spending by the Air Force on the startup Space Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.. This is happening, Alabama lawmakers say, while there has been no acknowledgment that Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville ranked higher than Colorado Springs in the official review of permanent headquarters locations.
Two of those representatives, U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt and U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, have moved to stop any further spending in Colorado until a permanent headquarters is named. Rogers chairs the House Armed Services Committee and added this measure to its version of the FY 2024 budget: “This section would limit the use of funds to construct or modify facilities for temporary or permanent use by United States Space Command for headquarter operations until the Secretary of the Air Force delivers a report on the selection of a permanent location to the congressional defense committees.”
©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit al.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
