Defense bill chops Tobyhanna depot funding

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A $606 billion defense appropriations bill recently passed by the House of Representatives could hamstring Tobyhanna Army Depot, according to Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

The appropriations bill would cut funding for depot maintenance and repair activities by more than $2 billion and could hinder Tobyhanna and Letterkenny Army Depot in Franklin County from upgrading equipment used by the military, Casey said.

Casey and a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter recently to the top Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to reject the cuts.

Tobyhanna is the military’s largest facility for the repair and recalibration of communications and electronics equipment. It is northeastern Pennsylvania’s largest employer, with more than 5,000 workers.

Officials at Tobyhanna declined to comment.

“You don’t want to decrease investment in that facility,” said Bob Phillips, president and chief executive of the Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce. “They pay for themselves.”

A reduction in government funding for depots could have a severe potential effect on employment in the region, Phillips said.

“They are probably the most profitable, per-square-foot, of all the depots,” he said. “It would change a lot of people’s lives in northeastern Pennsylvania.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Blair County Republican whose district includes Letterkenny, recently expressed opposition to the cuts, even though he voted for the bill.

Casey’s letter warns that about 3,000 employees at Army depots could be laid off if the spending reductions in the House bill go forward.

“Zeroing out

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