Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
October 18, 2001 -- Page: S10807

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, as my distinguished chairman, the Senator from California, is preparing to speak about the conference report accompanying the military construction appropriations bill, I want to make a few comments about what is going on today.

I am very pleased to say the Senate is open for business, and we are preparing to take up very important legislation as it relates to the U.S. war on terrorism. Before we talk about that, I want to say that what we are doing is important as an example to our country. We have had severe threats to the people who work in the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol is the symbol of freedom and democracy for the whole world. It represents the United States.

Our people made the decision that we would close the office buildings so our staff would be protected. We are checking the office buildings to see what kind of anthrax might be present. We are doing the prudent thing. We are trying to take care of our people.

On the other hand, we are also keeping the Capitol open as the symbol that the business of Government is going on, and many of us are working out of our Capitol offices. We have our staffs with us. They are very happy to be here. There is a spirit of comradeship up and down the halls of the Capitol where people are spilling out from the various small offices to make room in the tiny little offices from where we are now operating. But everybody is happy to do it because we know this is important for our country. It is our way of saying to those who are in the field representing us in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan that we are here, too, and we are taking care of your needs.

I am very proud we are in session. Our staffs are happy to be here, and we are doing our duty for our country. The people of America should know we are going to do everything that is on our agenda for this week--business as usual--and the House did the same thing. They passed the bills yesterday. We passed them yesterday, and we will pass them today.

With that, I welcome the chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee and thank her in advance for the leadership she has provided to this very important committee.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS LATER IN THE DEBATE -- Page: S10808

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I fully endorse the comments made by our subcommittee chairman, Senator Feinstein. I am pleased to recommend the military construction conference report for fiscal year 2002 to the Senate. We have worked very hard, Senator Feinstein and myself, with our House colleagues, to bring this conference report to a successful conclusion.

I thank our colleagues from the House side, the chairman, David Hobson from Ohio, and John Olver from Massachusetts, the ranking member, for working with us in such a collegial way.

As Senator Feinstein said, there were many disagreements and, frankly, some different priorities when our two bills passed respectively in the House and the Senate, but we worked hard and in a very productive way to resolve those differences and keep the priorities of each House but within a responsible budget. Everybody gave a little, but I think everyone did the right thing, and I am very pleased with the product.

We sought a balanced bill, one that provides funding for planning, design, construction, alteration, and improvement of military facilities worldwide, both for Active-Duty and Reserve Forces. I think this is a very important point because we know our Reserve Forces are stepping up to the plate as we speak.

Our President has called 40,000 of them to service, and there could be more. So we are very cognizant of the need for our Reserves to be supported and, in fact, there is a total of almost $1 billion for Guard and Reserve facilities in this military construction bill.

Additionally, we have focused on military housing. This has been a priority for all of us. Quality of life for our men and women in the services is very important to us, and we are making a transition in our military, frankly, from a force that used to be mostly single men, some single women, to now families of men and women. For that reason, we have had to adjust military construction priorities in recent years. We have $1.2 billion for barracks improvements; $44 million for child care centers; $199 million for hospitals and medical facilities and $4 billion for family housing.

This intensifies the effort to improve the quality of military housing and accelerate the elimination of substandard housing. I am very pleased with those priorities.

I also concur with the comments of Senator Feinstein on the issue of access roads. A number of colleagues expressed to me their concern about the need for upgrading access roads near chemical demilitarization sites. A defense access road must be appropriately certified by the Department of Defense, legislatively authorized, and then it is eligible for funding in the military construction appropriations bill.

As Senator Feinstein said, we have provided the Department of Defense the ability to conduct a feasibility study on requirements for Defense roads at chemical demilitarization sites. We think this is the right and responsible approach to determine what the needs are of the Department of Defense and also determine what the responsibilities of the State or local governments should be in that regard.

I also want to make the point this bill will soon be going to the President of the United States for signature. This bill includes some very important upgrades of facilities in support of the Operation Enduring Freedom effort in which we are now engaged. Operation Enduring Freedom, of course, is our war on terrorism. In support of these operations this bill includes an upgrade for a runway in Oman and a base supply warehouse in Turkey, one of our strongest allies. I am very proud that Turkey stepped up to the plate early and said: Whatever you need to protect freedom and democracy is going to be our cause as well.

Further, we included a special operations training range in Okinawa. Japan also stepped up to the plate--the Japanese Prime Minister was one of the first to say: We are with you to protect democracy in this part of the world. And lastly, we included a war reserve storage facility in Guam. We are very pleased to provide these projects that will directly support our ability to stage this war on terrorism.

I thank my chairman, Senator Feinstein, for working with me to assure even though we had the bill on the drawing boards before September 11, nevertheless we could react to the immediate needs of the Department of Defense in these areas.

This bill is on its way to the President, and it will provide the support to our men and women in the military who have pledged their lives to protect our freedom. They have pledged their lives to protect freedom throughout the world. This is the test of our generation, and our young men and women are stepping up to the challenge. They deserve the support we are giving them in this bill. We are doing our duty and fulfilling our responsibilities here today. I am proud to say, once again, the prowess of our military is going to shine through and we are going to show the military of a freedom-loving country is the strongest in the world, with the full support of the Congress.

I yield the floor.

FINAL COMMENTS AFTER PASSAGE OF THE CONFERENCE REPORT TO THE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, FY 2002 -- Page: S10810

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank all Senators who supported this very important legislation. Senator Feinstein and I are very appreciative of the support of Congress.

This bill is now on its way to the President. It will provide support to our men and women in the field in their quality of life, quality of their equipment, and in the quality of their training. We can do no less. I appreciate the support of the Senate.