{"id":39432,"date":"2019-03-13T21:14:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T21:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/13\/dod-wants-to-sharply-cut-commissary-budget-as-overall-defense-budget-increases\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:01:28","slug":"dod-wants-to-sharply-cut-commissary-budget-as-overall-defense-budget-increases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/2019\/03\/13\/dod-wants-to-sharply-cut-commissary-budget-as-overall-defense-budget-increases\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD wants to sharply cut commissary budget as overall defense budget increases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article has been updated to add responses from the Department of Defense.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commissary budget will take a 21 percent cut in fiscal 2020, if the Defense Department\u2019s budget request is approved by Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense officials are asking for $995 million in taxpayer funding to operate the 236 commissary stores worldwide, down from $1.27 billion in fiscal 2019, according to DoD budget documents released Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defense Commissary Agency\u2019s budget reduction \u201cis tied to a series of DoD internally directed cuts that began in fiscal 2016,\u201d said DoD spokeswoman Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason. Since that time, she said, the commissary agency has been taking steps, to \u201creduce its operating costs to meet anticipated topline funding, while still maintaining customer service levels and congressionally mandated patron savings levels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gleason said the Defense Commissary Agency doesn\u2019t expect the cut to have any impact on customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reduction is due to an 11 percent decrease in the commissary work force. Those work force cuts in the Defense Commissary Agency started in fiscal 2019 and will carry forward into fiscal 2020 \u2014 going from 14,000 employees worldwide to 12,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reduction in the number of employees, \u201cas a result of the efficiencies we are gaining, helps position us to absorb a portion of the cut,\u201d Gleason said. The agency will continue to make changes in its staffing, to include the reduction of an additional 500 employees in fiscal 2020, while making sure \u201cthat our stores will have the right number of people to deliver the expected level of service,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget cut comes as the Defense Department is moving toward merging the three military exchange systems and the commissary system<\/a> into one \u201cdefense resale enterprise,\u201d in efforts to save money. But that proposal hasn\u2019t yet been approved \u2014 at this writing it was awaiting approval by Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist. A report and legislative proposals will then be sent to Congress. In a memo signed March 1, Lisa Hershman, acting DoD chief management officer, approved the business case for the merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order for DoD to fully merge those systems, some laws will have to be changed, such as the current law requiring separate commissary and exchange<\/a> systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\t