Maryland officials say attempts to reverse the movement of nearly 9,000 defense jobs from New Jersey to Aberdeen Proving Ground likely will fail because the shift has been signed into law.

New Jersey’s state senators and assemblymen have asked Congress to re-examine the process that is closing Fort Monmouth and moving nearly 9,000 of its jobs to Aberdeen. The request came after reports that the cost of the move has doubled from original estimates.

Yet Maryland’s representatives in Washington and Annapolis remain confident that the process will move forward. And they are working toward getting federal and state money for transportation improvements, school construction and programs to prepare the state’s workers for the high-tech jobs scheduled to arrive by 2011.

“The BRAC decisions will not be reversed,” said U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a Republican representing parts of Harford County and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

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The office of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., also dismissed a possible reversal.

“The New Jersey delegation is making a valiant effort to keep Fort Monmouth open,” Mikulski spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said. “This is exactly what the Maryland delegation would be doing if we lost one of our most valuable bases. The 2005 BRAC decisions have been signed into law, and the Pentagon is moving forward to implement them.”

Brig. Gen. Michael Hayes, director of military and federal affairs for Maryland’s department of business and economic development, also viewed the BRAC decision as final.

“There have been things changed before decisions have been made final, but there’s never been a change after things have been finalized and approved by the president,” he said.

In Harford, County Councilman Jim McMahan called the New Jersey lawmakers’ fight “a scare tactic.”

“They’re desperate; they will try anything,” he said. “But as I say, the law has been passed: It’s law.”

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com