Army expects to avert new cuts

WASHINGTON — Under questioning from his replacement in Congress, Army Secretary John M. McHugh said Thursday that Army installations probably will avoid a repeat of this year's budget cuts in the next fiscal year — but that officials will keep looking for ways to trim costs.

"I think we'll be in a much better situation," Mr. McHugh told Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Owens asked how the proposed budget for next year addresses base operation programs that were cut, then partially restored, at Fort Drum and other installations in recent weeks. It was his first interaction with the former congressman in a public setting.

Fort Drum was targeted for $36 million in cuts, including maintenance contracts with the Jefferson Rehabilitation Center, the cancellation of an annual air show, reduced lawn mowing and other items. Pressed by Mr. Owens, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and other lawmakers, the Army relented and restored $500 million, but officials have not said which cuts will be reversed or averted, and which not.

While Mr. McHugh sought to assure Mr. Owens and other lawmakers that the types of cuts many lawmakers had decried would not be repeated, and that family-oriented programs would be preserved, he cautioned that some types of installation funding could be trimmed in the years ahead and that officials cannot be sure about expenses on individual bases without knowing those posts' tempo of operations — something affected by deployments, among other hard-to-predict factors.

"Family programs are sacrosanct. They will not be touched," Mr. McHugh told the committee. "Army families will not be left behind."

On the other hand, Mr. McHugh said after the hearing, the Army has to "look at fiscal realities" and will keep looking for "efficiencies" at installations.

"I wouldn't put it that they have to worry about it," Mr. McHugh said, but Army "tiger teams" will be working with bases to identify savings. Already, officials identified $14 million in such savings at Fort Drum, he said, which are part of the $36 million in cuts cited by the post.

At the hearing, Mr. McHugh credited Mr. Owens with being one of the first of several members of the Armed Services Committee to share concerns about program cuts, which officials now say affected areas they did not originally intend, including costing jobs.

In his first appearance before the committee he served for 16 years, Mr. McHugh faced friendly questioning. On the most contentious issue, the ban on openly gay and lesbian service members, lawmakers directed most of their remarks and questions to Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr.

Asked by committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., what has surprised him in five months on the job at the Pentagon, Mr. McHugh said he discovered the Army needs to do a better job of addressing stress among civilian workers. The strain on soldiers, in contrast, has received great attention.

"There are civilians, too, that are under tremendous stress," said Mr. McHugh, who added that he had not thought much about that issue when he was in Congress. "They've been at war, too."

A few members of the committee joked that they were happy about Mr. McHugh's career move — Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif, who took his slot as ranking Republican, and Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., who filled the committee vacancy.

But Mr. Owens joked that he took umbrage at anyone claiming to be happier than he.

"I am clearly the most happy," Mr. Owens said.

Mr. McHugh said it was good to see Mr. Owens, too.