HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
The commander of U.S. military
forces in the Pacific thinks the fiscal cliff spending cuts will hit harder in
Hawaii because of local costs and the regional mission.
Admiral Samuel Locklear testified Tuesday before the
House Armed Services Committee in Washington before flying back to Honolulu for
a Wednesday joint hearing in the Hawaii Legislature.
Locklear told members of Congress the cuts, especially
the one-day-a-week furloughs planned for civilian employees of the Defense
Department, will have a major impact in Hawaii.
He cited the high cost of living in Hawaii will make 20
percent pay reductions bite harder for the 38,000 civilian DOD employees in the
Pacific, many of them resident in Hawaii.
And he said the timing is bad because it comes as the
Defense Department is "rebalancing" forces, shifting more operations
to the Pacific region.
"These funding cuts will challenge our ability to
execute both discreet operations and the broader Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance
strategy," he said in his prepared remarks.
The cuts are already having an impact, the admiral said,
given that a March ship deployment has already been postponed, with the ship
remaining at Pearl Harbor.
Locklear also mentioned the spending cuts come at a time
when China plans to grow its submarine fleet to a larger size than U.S. forces
in the Pacific.
China's Xinhua News Agency transmitted its own report on
the testimony, which did not mention the sub remark but quoted Locklear as
saying budget uncertainties could undermine the U.S. rebalancing strategy.
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