Budget cuts would hit Texas particularly hard White House report examines impact of deficit-reduction law.

WASHINGTON — A White House report issued two months before the election warned Friday that across-the-board spending cuts under the deficit-reduction law would cripple the military, NASA, border security and other government programs vital to Texas.

No state-by-state analysis was included in the report, but officials estimate Texas would be disproportionately hit, with more than 159,000 military jobs lost and huge cuts to domestic-program funding if Congress fails to act.

The largest percentage of cuts would come from Pentagon accounts that include military construction and defense contracting.

Among estimated military cuts:

• $3.2 billion to the Defense Health program.

• $4.2 billion to Air Force operation and maintenance.

• $6.8 billion to Army operation and maintenance;

• $4.2 billion to Navy operation and maintenance.

• $415 million to military construction.

Among the nonmilitary cuts bound to hit Texas hard:

• $1.45 billion from NASA.

• $478 million to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement plus nearly $1 billion from general customs and border protection and $205 million from citizenship and immigration services.

• $1 billion in federal unemployment benefits, plus $262 million in job-training programs.

Other safety-net trims include cuts to children and family services; low-income home energy assistance; aid to states for child care and development block grants and social-services block grants; aging services; and nearly $12 billion from Medicare.

The automatic cuts, known as sequestration, are part of the deficit-reduction deal reached by Congress and the Obama administration to force a compromise on revenue increases and government spending cuts.

Failure to reach agreement would result in the automatic cuts at the beginning of the next calendar year.

The Obama administration report released Friday, as required by law, concluded there is “no question that the sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions.”

Sequestration would impose a 2 percent cut to Medicare, 8 percent reductions in other domestic programs and a 9 percent cut to defense spending, according to the Office of Management and Budget, which released the report.

In the report, released as the Nov. 6 election approaches, the Obama administration urged lawmakers to adopt an alternative to sequestration.

“It is time for Congress to act” and accept spending cuts and revenue increases, the report stated.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the “president is wagering our national security in an election-year gamble to achieve his own political ends.”

Cornyn said Obama is at odds with his own administration when it comes to the deep cuts to Pentagon spending.

While Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned Congress that sequestration would “devastate our national defense,” Obama has “made clear that he will veto any attempt to avert sequestration while providing no alternatives,” Cornyn said.

Democrats blamed Republicans in the House and Senate for failing to reach a compromise on cuts that threatened government services and protections abroad and at home.

“I hope Republicans will view this report as a wake-up call and start working with Democrats to do what the American people expect of us in Congress,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., House Democratic whip.

According to the report, sequestration would cut education grants to states and local school districts.

In addition, “the number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Customs and Border Patrol agents, correctional officers and federal prosecutors would be slashed,” the report said.

The cuts could also affect national parks, such as the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Big Bend National Park and Padre Island National Seashore.

“Make no mistake that if Congress fails to prevent this cut, national parks and local communities who depend on their business will suffer,” said Tom Kiernan, president for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Also among the cuts: $129 million for “embassy protection, maintenance and construction.”

An independent report by Stephen Fuller of George Mason University released earlier this year found that California, Virginia and Texas would see the largest military-industry job losses due to sequestration.

Texas would see more than 159,000 jobs and $5.4 billion in income lost due to sequestration, according to Fuller's estimates.

California would see 126,000 jobs and $7.4 billion in income lost.

Not all federal spending accounts would be affected by sequestration.

Veterans benefits and health care programs, Social Security and Medicaid, the national health care program for the poor and elderly, would be untouched, according to the OMB report.

Congress still has time to pass alternative legislation, which the president must approve, before sequestration takes effect Jan. 2.

The OMB report said the administration “remains ready to work with Congress to enact a balanced plan.”

gmartin@express-news.net