KUAM.com-KUAM News: On Air. Online. On Demand.Obama unveils FY2013 budget

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - President Barack Obama is pitching a $3.8 trillion plan that includes $350 billion to stimulate job growth. The president told a crowd of supporters today at a Northern Virginia Community College that $8 billion of that would be dedicated to help schools train workers through his Community College to Career fund.

He announced, "At a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we've got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track."  

The president is also selling $4 trillion worth of spending cuts all reportedly designed to trim the deficit over the next decade.  A half-billion of those cuts are expected to come from the Department of Defense.  During a Pentagon briefing today, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Admiral Joseph Mulloy explained why the significant reduction in funding request for the Okinawa Guam Realignment in FY2012 the request was for $159 million as opposed to the FY2013 request of just $51 million for the Marines relocation.

He said, "There's already a backlog of money that's been appropriated and we need to get that plan to the hill and then execute all of that we also need to do an extended EIS out there so that's going to take time. So our case was that if we put up any more money than that we aren't going to be able to execute in the next year or two then we'd lose it on the hill, so better we thought it better to putting the project on the north ramp on Andersen Air Force Based to where I know I'm going to put a footprint there and put the design and plan money into start working the plans. As we go from this two plus two and what I would call this delinking between from the government we'll step ahead and design for the future of Guam but we still have a backlog of things to build out there  independent of the size of the troops."

Instead a total of $102 million in military construction funding will go toward the North Ramp Parking Project at Andersen, Phase 4 of the Army National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters Improvement Project, and $26 million to a fuel pipeline upgrade project.

Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller and DODs Chief Financial Officer Robert Hale however told reporters that the $51 million request for the Guam realignment might not be set in stone as dialogue between the U.S. and Japan continue.

"There are ongoing discussions.  We don't yet have a specific plan.  We need to both work with the Japanese and also consult with the Congress. I think the answer is that we've come up with a plan, we will need to look again at our financial needs in fiscal '13, and, yes, we may have to adjust them," he said.

Aside from defense spending, also included in the president's budget $139.4 million in civilian infrastructure for Guam including $20 million for the complete construction of the Guam Mental Health and Substance Abuse facility, $12.8 million for the construction of the Guam Regional Public Health Laboratory, $106 million in water and wastewater projects, additionally $5 million will be appropriated to implement a comprehensive plan to mitigate the impacts and costs of compact migration, $3 million for brown tree snake control and $1 million to assist with coral reef conservation efforts.

Reacting from Washington Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo says she will work with her colleagues to protect funding for Guam and ensure that our community has the resources it needs to maintain important programs and services on our island.