Hirono: Military cuts could affect Hawaii tourism

Tina Yuen PBN

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono says budget cuts to defense spending could affect Hawaii tourism.

Drastic budget cuts that could go into effect March 1 would not only mean a reduction in defense spending in Hawaii, but it could also impact tourism, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said Monday.

If Congress doesn?t approve a plan to slash spending by March 1, the cuts would mean thousands of Department of Defense civilian employees being furloughed as well as Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers being laid off, which could impact tourism in Hawaii, she said.

?Clearly, this is not the way to go,? Hirono said during a conference call with Hawaii media.

According to U.S. Pacific Command, there are 19,000 DOD civilian employees in Hawaii. PACOM could not comment about the impact on any cuts here, but military officials said they are awaiting directions from the Pentagon if the cuts do happen.

Hirono said thousands of jobs would also be lost, including 2,200 in the health-care industry.

If a deal isn?t reached, the more than $2 billion in defense contracts here in Hawaii could be cut by 10 percent and contracts may have to be restructured, Hirono said.

?It?s really poor business. It?s poor budgeting,? she added. ?We are working very hard on the Senate side to come up with an alternative that would prevent [the reductions].?

In addition to reducing spending, the government needs to look at ways to generate more revenues and create more jobs, she added.

Mark Abramson covers transportation, military contracting and sports marketing for Pacific Business News.

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_pacific/~3/HTvZqR9jy9E/hirono-military-cuts-could-affect.html

sxsw crystal cathedral st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse