The largest union of federal employees is digging in to fight against a proposal before Congress that would consolidate all military exchanges and commissaries under one umbrella. In a March 18 letter, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) urged the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to reject an Obama administration request to cut $300 million from the 2016 Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) budget. The union also called for a rejection of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission recommendation that would merge DeCA and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) into one entity, and convert DeCA employees to non-appropriated fund status. “The cut is a badly disguised attempt to put the commissaries into a death spiral,” the letter, signed by AFGE legislative and political director Beth Moten. The proposed cuts would weaken exchange and commissary significantly and threaten employees’ jobs and benefits, the letter stated.