SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND BLOCKED SENATE AMENDMENT TO MOVE DFAS JOBS

Senators Vow to Fight Any Future Threat 

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand blocked an attempt in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Defense Authorization markup that would have moved Rome’s Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) division from the purview of the Defense Department to the Department of Treasury. The proposed amendment was a direct threat to 1000-plus local jobs at DFAS Rome and the regional economy, as well, and upon learning of the sudden threat, the senators acted rapidly and in tandem to successfully block the amendment from advancing any further.

“DFAS Rome is an anchor for thousands of good-paying jobs in the Mohawk Valley and I have worked overtime to protect them. When we caught wind of an attempt to move DFAS from the Defense Department to the Treasury Department, which would threaten our local jobs and the ability of DFAS to do what it does best, Senator Gillibrand and I immediately got to work. We made it crystal clear to our colleagues in the Senate that DFAS is here to stay. DFAS is such a prominent fiber in the Rome-Utica community, we will ferociously fight attempt to move jobs out of Rome now or in the future.” – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer

“DFAS is a vital part of the community in Rome, and we will continue to fight any attempts to shut it down, move it away, or negatively affect it in any other way,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “The men and women at DFAS do such important work every day serving our nation and ensuring that our service members are paid. I was proud to fight with Senator Schumer to protect these jobs, maintain DFAS’s critical mission, and keep our workers here in Rome.”

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