Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
September 26, 2001 -- Page: S9829

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I, too, thank the chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee. Senator Feinstein and I have a long-time friendship. We have been able to work in a bipartisan way to meet the needs of our military, and I appreciate so much the working relationship we have.

Congress addresses the needs of our military in two separate appropriations bills: Defense and military construction. The bill we will pass today is military construction.

I could not fail to begin without saying none of us anticipated that in September of 2001 our country would be in a war on terrorism, a war that we did not expect but which we are committed to win. We are reminded once again, as we have been in every century of our country's existence, that freedom is not free.

As our forefathers and mothers did before us, we will make all the sacrifices required to protect the freedom they delivered to us, and we will pass the torch to our children. America will remain the strongest nation in the history of the world.

I am pleased to recommend the military construction bill to the Senate. We have sought a balanced bill that addresses military construction requirements for readiness, family housing, barracks, and quality of life for the Active and Reserve components. I would like to make a couple of comments about overseas military construction.

We took a close look at the overseas construction priorities of the Department of Defense to ensure the projects are consistent with the long-range policies and plans of the Department of Defense. There are a few areas that are troubling that I want to bring to everyone's attention.

The United States maintains over 74 installations outside the United States. These installations subsume funding that in some cases could have been better used to maintain or improve our critical domestic base infrastructure and training capabilities. It is important that we continue to closely monitor the overseas funding plans of the Department of Defense.

In the fiscal year 2002 military construction bill, we did not fund three of the overseas projects in the budget submission that either could not be executed next year or are not mission essential. In a resource-constrained environment, these are the types of projects I cannot support. During conference, I expect to continue to closely scrutinize overseas construction.

I also note that this bill includes $192 million for military construction in Korea. United States forces have now served in Korea for over 50 years. The funding in this bill represents a continuing American commitment to our Korean allies. I hope that in the aftermath of the September 11 attack on America, our Korean allies will demonstrate a similar commitment as our Nation responds to that attack.

Finally, our close scrutiny and review of the overseas funding priorities will obviously continue next year based on the results of the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review, as well as any necessary future military construction resulting from the attack on America on September 11, 2001.

This bill directs the Secretary of Defense to submit a report on the overseas basing requirements as a result of the Quadrennial Defense Review to the Congress no later than April 1, 2002. All the Members of Congress who have visited the men and women of the Armed Forces at our domestic and overseas installations are aware of the critical shortfalls in our defense infrastructure. This bill begins to address those shortfalls.

It improves our national security infrastructure and our ability to support the needs of our military families. This is especially vital at this important time as America comes together to fight terrorism. We will ask more of the men and women of our Armed Forces, and we cannot ask them at the same time to live, train, and deploy from installations that cannot support their readiness and requirements.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Our civilian and military leaders and our warriors must go to battle knowing the Senate is committed to ensuring that our defense and military infrastructure requirements are met. America is united in our cause, and Congress will provide the support to win.

Again, I thank Senator Feinstein for working in such a great bipartisan way to fund the requirements for military construction. I also thank her staff, Tina Evans, and B.G. Wright, for working with my staff. I want to especially point out the extraordinary experience and knowledge of Sid Ashworth, who has been on the Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction and who, with all due respect, probably knows more than all of us put together. I thank her for her help in getting this bill done, with able help from my staff, Michael Ralsky.

As I yield the floor, I am thankful for the resolve of our country and the unity we are showing in the Senate.