SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Congress might shoot down Seafair’s Navy Blue Angels
Jan 30, 2013, 3:30 PM | Updated: 3:43 pm
The Blue Angels have more than 30 events scheduled for the latter half of 2013, including Seafair in Seattle the first weekend in August. Congressional budget inaction could ground them. (Peter Carnicelli/U.S. Navy, AP file photo)
(Peter Carnicelli/U.S. Navy, AP file photo)
The U.S. Navy is bracing for billions of dollars in cuts if Congress fails to agree on a budget by the end of March.
Without agreement on reducing the budget, mandatory cuts known as “sequestration” will be enacted.
Sequestration would force the Navy to cut all funding to the aerial demonstration squadron for the third and fourth quarters of 2013, according to a brief from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert.
U.S. News and World Report obtained the budget brief.
That means no blue and gold F/A-18s screaming through the skies. The Blue Angels have more than 30 events scheduled for the latter half of the year, including Seafair in Seattle. The precision flying team is already committed to Seafair weekend, August 2 – 4, 2013.
The Navy needs to slash $4.6 billion from its operation and maintenance funds if Congress fails to come to a compromise.
Even if the sequestration is settled in Washington, the Department of Defense’s budget will still decline, according to Greenert.
