“There were approximately 2,500 people who were in probationary status,” the Dayton Republican said after his remarks at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, the former Holiday Inn Fairborn. “The fear was there could be up to 1,200 who might be at risk.”
Turner said Wright-Patterson leaders applied for waivers to protect those workers.
“We worked with the White House and the Department of Defense to get those waivers processed,” Turner said.
Audience members applauded when Turner shared the news at the hotel. The waivers have never been reported previously.
Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he was leading a “reevaluation of our probationary workforce.”
The secretary at the time said the re-evaluation was happening across government, not just the Department of Defense.
Wright-Patterson has been a reliable — and growing —economic engine for the Dayton area, and a center of Air Force research and development for decades. The base has some 38,000 civilian and military employees and a huge economic impact.
“I heard from many managers at the base the anxiety that was occurring in the employment base at Wright-Patterson,” Turner said during his prepared remarks. “It’s good to have that (resolved).”
He also reminded his audience that he held firm against an attempt to alter how retirement benefits are calculated for federal employees.
“I was actually the lone voice on the (House Oversight and Government Reform) committee,” Turner said. “Fortunately, in order to pass the bill, they needed every one lone voice.”
Ultimately, the proposal to change retirement benefits for federal employees was not included in the federal budget plan that narrowly passed the U.S. House in May.
And he said that if another budgetary “continuing resolution” can be avoided, it’s his hope that funding for continued construction at Wright-Patterson can be secured on the Senate side. In July, the House passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026 221 to 209.
With the help of Ohio Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, Turner continues to pursue funding for the design of a new home for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and other projects at Wright-Patterson.
Husted so far has been able to secure $30 million for the new Human Performance Wing facility at Wright-Patterson, the congressman said.
“As a community, this has been a high priority,” Turner said. “We have been working collectively on the design, funding, and we’ve been advocating for the final construction dollars. He currently has that in the appropriations bill.”
The key will be “working as a team to ensure that those dollars stay,” he added.
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