Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
July 17, 2002 -- Page: S6932

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California, the chairman of the committee. We certainly have worked together on this bill, and Senator Feinstein outlined some of the problems we faced in trying to make up for some of the shortfalls in the budget that we had before, particularly in the environmental cleanup and Guard and Reserve accounts.

We have been able to address the major issues for the Department of Defense and also try to stay on the course that we set to improve the quality of life for our military personnel.

In 2001, when President Bush took the oath of office, he made a promise to America that we would see a transformation of our military. He wanted to take a 25-year look at what our military needs would be, and he appointed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has the most experience of any Secretary of Defense, having been Secretary of Defense before, to do that very job.

After 9/11, of course, our priorities immediately changed because we then became immediately involved in a crisis, a war on terrorism. Now we are prosecuting a war on terrorism at the same time that we still are trying to look to the future needs of our national defense.

Our bill for military construction attempts to address the top priorities of the Department of Defense. It is a balanced bill and is quite bipartisan.

I am particularly pleased to see that we are going to put a large part of this bill, $1.17 billion, in barracks and dormitories for our military quality of life; $4.23 billion for family housing. We are asking so much of our military today. Our military personnel on active duty know that they may well be deployed overseas and perhaps on dangerous missions. So we want them to have a quality of life for themselves and for their families that will allow them to serve, knowing that their families will be taken care of in good housing and with good health care. Our part is housing, and we are fully funding the new barracks, dormitories, and family housing.

In recent years, we have made real progress in improving housing for single servicemembers and for families. We are also trying to improve workplaces. We have funding in this bill for the upgrading of the work facilities, the battalion headquarters, and the units where they are working. It is my hope that in future budgets we will see sufficient resources to continue this effort to modernize, renovate, and improve our aging defense facilities and infrastructure.

The effects of sustained inattention by the Department and the military services to basic infrastructure are certainly apparent on nearly every military installation in our country. This will continue to have long-term implications as facilities continue to age disproportionately without sustained investment in maintenance and repair.

This bill also provides $599 million for the Reserve components, which is a substantial increase over the President's budget request primarily because of the increased use of the Guard and Reserve since September 11. These are important increases that signal a renewed commitment to upgrading and rebuilding the infrastructure that is truly the backbone of our Nation's military, which has so long been neglected.

Guard and Reserve members have stepped up to the plate for our country, even before 9/11, but more so after. These are men and women with full-time civilian jobs. They answer the call when our country asks, and their employers sacrifice, too. We are asking a lot, and they always come through. That is why we are trying to upgrade the facilities and the equipment they need to do their jobs well.

The bill also addresses several key Department of Defense initiatives. First are the Army and Air Force transformation initiatives. We have provided $100 million for critical infrastructure needed to support the Army's interim brigade combat teams and $100 million for the Air Force's aircraft mobility programs.

Senator Feinstein discussed those programs earlier. These programs are essential to ensuring that the Army and Air Force have the infrastructure in place to move forward with the transformation efforts over the next several years. Without this assistance, they would not be able to meet their established milestones.

The committee report also includes a $100 million increase over the President's budget request for environmental cleanup at military installations that have been closed as a part of the base realignment and closure effort. This additional funding is necessary to enable the military to accelerate the cleanup of dangerous contaminants at closed and realigned bases throughout the Nation.

Senator Feinstein mentioned my home State of Texas where Kelly Air Force Base is one of those that were closed and where there are very significant reported health problems that many believe--and there is evidence to support--are caused by environmental contaminants at that closed base. Certainly California is experiencing similar problems. We are going to try to do what we said we would do for the people in the communities where we have closed bases.

I support this bill. It is exactly what we need to address the infrastructure problems that will support our military and Department of Defense budget.

I thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Feinstein, for her leadership in crafting this bill. She and her staff--Christina Evans and B.G. Wright--have done an excellent job in putting together a bipartisan bill.

I also thank my staff--Sid Ashworth, Alycia Farrell and Michael Ralsky--for their invaluable work on our Committee on Appropriations every year. Michael Ralsky has done a wonderful job for me and will soon be going over to the Pentagon where we know he will contribute his expertise, gained from working in the Senate for so many years.

Their support has been really terrific, and we appreciate that. I appreciate that Senator Feinstein also thanked Senator Inouye and Senator Stevens for their work. They do the Department of Defense budgets, and we certainly dovetail with them in our military construction budgets. I cannot think of any two people who are more committed to our strong military than Ted Stevens and Danny Inouye, two veterans who have served our country in the military and who would never, ever walk away from our responsibility to take care of our military personnel. They have been so supportive of this military construction effort that Senator Feinstein and I have put together.

I support the bill and urge my colleagues to support it when we vote tomorrow.