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Study: Virginia, Hawaii, Alaska would be hit hardest by defense cuts
Virginia has the most to lose from deep cuts in defense spending, according to a new report summing up state-by-state federal military spending.
Bloomberg Government released a study this past weekend that found Virginia had $56.9 billion in defense spending in its state in 2009, totaling 10.8 percent of the country’s military spending.
Hawaii and Alaska were the states with the next largest chunks of defense spending, the study found.
The threat of $500 billion in automatic defense cuts, which would be triggered by the supercommittee’s failure, could hit all states through potential losses of defense contracts and military personnel.
Virginia, for instance, had nearly 178,000 military personnel stationed there in 2009, and defense contractors were awarded $38.7 billion in the state. Northrop Grumman, which chose to move its headquarters to Virginia from California last year, had $5.8 billion in contracts, the highest of any company in Virginia.
