FUNDING CUT AT PLANT 42 TARGETED; CONGRESSMAN HOPES $3.3 MILLION WILL BE RESTORED.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Antelope Valley's congressman is trying to restore $3.3 million in Air Force Plant 42 funds inexplicably cut from the defense budget, a cut that could endanger operations at the military base.

The money was part of a defense budget line item that was trimmed from $23.7 million in 1998 to $13.7 million in the 1999 budget, said a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita.

Of the $10 million in cuts, $3.3 million was for Plant 42. Security, fire protection and runway maintenance are among services the money would finance under contract.

If the funding is not restored, operations at Plant 42 could be affected by summer, causing some flights to move elsewhere, said McKeon spokesman David Foy.

McKeon believes there is hope that the funding will be restored, Foy said.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, is the new chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee for defense in the 106th Congress. He represented part of the Antelope Valley before congressional district boundaries were redrawn in 1993.

``He realizes the value of Plant 42 to the national defense,'' Foy said. ``Congressman McKeon believes, with Congressman Lewis' help, we will be able to solve this problem.'' McKeon will try two different approaches to get the funding restored, Foy said. He will appeal to the Air Force Materiel Command. He also will try to get the money included in a supplemental defense appropriations bill.

Plant 42 is the second-largest center of employment in the Antelope Valley, behind only Edwards Air Force Base. Defense contractors at Plant 42 employ about 9,900 workers with an annual payroll of more than $494 million.