At a time when voters across the nation are railing against government spending and the incumbent lawmakers who support it, Northern Virginia, home to a sizable chunk of the federal government’s work force and private contractors dependent on the government’s business, provides a sharp contrast.
Indeed, a proposal from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cut defense contracting by 10 percent each of the next three years may be welcome news to conservatives pressing for a more limited government, but those cuts could cost the D.C. region billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, according to John McClain, deputy director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who has expressed concern about the cuts, said Wednesday that representatives in the area have an obligation to understand the character of the local economy and its unique partnership with the federal government.
“Nobody wants government bigger than it needs to be,” said Connolly, whose district includes parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties and who is in a tough fight for re-election against Republican Keith Fimian. “But that’s not the same as saying, therefore, you can take these national [Republican] Party talking points and just superimpose them over every district.”
That is certainly the case with Republican Patrick Murray, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Jim Moran in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District and who, like Connolly, believes that Gates’ proposal to pare defense contracting “appears ill-considered.”
“If the secretary believes that there are efficiencies to be realized by attacking the contractor community with a machete, he ought to be able to produce a professional study showing such a conclusion,” Murray said. “That study does not exist because the assumptions are erroneous.”
Yet, there are Republicans in Virginia who continue to deride Washington for spending too much. Fimian, Connolly’s opponent, is among them; the Oakton businessman has consistently railed against the federal government for what he describes as profligate spending and a skyrocketing national debt.
Despite the national mood, the closer politicians are to Washington, the less likely they’ll be arguing to deeply slash federal spending, said Stephen Farnsworth of George Mason University.
“When you make that argument in Fairfax County, you have to walk a very fine line,” Farnsworth said. “Fimian won the primary by channeling Republican anger with the status quo in Washington. It’s much harder to make the case in a general election in one of the most connected-to-Washington districts in America.”
