Burlington County’s mega-base has a powerful new fan: California Congressman Buck McKeon.McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, accompanied New Jersey Reps. Jon Runyan, R-3rd of Mount Laurel, and Chris Smith, R-4th of Robbinsville, on a tour of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on Saturday morning. Following the tour, the influential leader said he was impressed by the base’s cohesion of different military branches and units on one installation.

    “Here we have three services and also the Marines and Coast Guard joining in, and (base commander) Col. Wood says they have 88 tenants on this base that he deals with; people from all the branches of services and Homeland Security and all these other agencies that report to him that he has to provide services for,” McKeon said Saturday during a news conference off base in Wrightstown.

    “It’s a huge undertaking, and it’s a crown jewel I would think,” McKeon said.

    Such praise, from one of the most powerful lawmakers on Capital Hill, could prove crucial to the joint base’s future, particularly if a new round of base closures occurs next year or in 2015 or if Congress is unable to agree on a deficit reduction plan that staves off the start of $500 billion in across-the-board defense cuts mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

    The reductions are scheduled to begin Jan. 2 if Congress fails to act.

    McKeon said preventing the reduction needs to be the top priority during the lame duck session of Congress after the November election, and, if need be, the deadline for when the mandatory cuts begin should be extended three to six months to give both parties more time to negotiate a compromise.

    “There’s many who don’t want to move it back three months or six months; they say we’ve kicked the can down the road too often. However, I am supportive of anything we can do to get this solved,” he said, adding that the issue was too important to both the nation’s economy and military security and readiness.

    “My feeling we’re already in the sequestration (reduction). There are already people getting laid off and not getting hired. If we don’t solve this sequestration, the Pentagon basically shuts down Jan. 2. That puts us in jeopardy around the world.”

    Given the financial uncertainty, McKeon said another round of base closures appeared likely in either the near or long term.

    “We’ve gotten mixed messages coming from the White House, but I know they’re looking at every way they can to save money,” he said. “Anyway we can save, we need to, so the money we do have is spent on training troops and making sure they have the training, leadership and equipment they need to complete their mission.”

    McKeon said a disproportionate amount of spending cuts has already been cut from defense and that the additional cuts mandated could result in the loss of another 2 million in defense jobs.

    “Sequestration would be like shooting ourselves in the head,” he said.

    All three lawmakers said serious negotiations on potential compromise legislation to avoid sequestration cuts have never gotten under way, largely because the Democrat-controlled Senate has refused to take up any of the bills passed by the GOP-controlled House. Until that occurs, they said there’s no process for reaching a compromise.

    It’s process, and, unfortunately, it’s been that on every issue,” Runyan said. “Whether you’re talking taxes, sequestration or other issues, it’s the same holdup. Until they put it on paper and pass it on the Senate floor, we can’t move forward on process.”

    “They’re not even making an effort, they’re just criticizing,” Smith added. “We pass these bills and they just sit on the sidelines and refuse to compromise. That’s a dereliction of duty, the likes that I haven’t seen in my 32 years in Congress.”

    Runyan and Smith said they would continue to push for alternatives to sequestration and would continue to fight to protect and enhance the joint base with additional missions and equipment. They said McKeon’s visit to the base, which was believed to be the first by the House Armed Services chair in over a decade, would only help that effort.

    “Chris and I know how important this base is and what a huge asset it is, not only to New Jersey but our country as a whole. Bringing the chairman out here hopefully opened his eyes a little bit to what a huge asset it is, and how many men and women serve here,” Runyan said.

    The joint base was formed from the formerly separate installations of Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Air Station Lakehurst after the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It is the nation’s only tri-service military installation and is also home to units of the U.S. Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Homeland Security.

    “We now have the quintessential joint base of the world. Everyone is here, including Homeland Security and other tenants,” Smith said, noting that McKeon’s visit was a landmark.

    “To have the chief person in the House of Representatives when it comes to military budgeting and one of the members of his committee here, it’s just extraordinary and it certainly bodes well for the base,” he said.