House Approves Defense Funding Bill

September 27, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, voted last night to approve the final version of a bill funding critical defense needs including troop protection, research and development and emergency wartime appropriations. The Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007 Conference Report, H.R. 5631, was approved with strong bipartisan support, 394-22.

"As our troops continue the fight against terrorism, we must provide them with the best, most advanced equipment available," Dreier said. "Meeting troop protection needs will help keep them safe and more effective on the battlefield. We are also giving them a much deserved pay raise."

H.R. 5631 provides for: full funding for the 2.2 percent military pay raise; $1.9 billion for new improvised explosive device countermeasures to protect our troops on the ground; nearly $23 billion to ensure Army and Marine Corps troops are fully equipped with updated and refurbished equipment; $9.4 billion for ballistic missile defense; $937 million to fight narcoterrorism and fund the Department of Defense’s counter-drug activities; and, $1.5 million for the Chemical and Biological Defense Program.

Also included in the bill is funding for technologies to help our troops and advance critical research projects developed in the Foothills and Southern California. The conference report provides: $2.1 billion for the procurement of frequently used C-17 aircraft which are produced in Long Beach; $1.75 million in Air Force Operations and Maintenance for the MBU 20/P Oxygen Mask with Mask Light, produced by Gentex Corporation of Rancho Cucamonga; $2.25 million in Defense-Wide Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDTE) for Angelfire for FCLAS active protection system for helicopters and thin-skinned vehicles produced by Chang Industry of La Verne; $2.25 million in Defense-Wide RDTE for the Global Observer Hydrogen Fueled Unmanned Aircraft System produced by AeroVironment of Monrovia; $1 million for the Monrovia-based Tanner Research’s Micro-Seeker System for Small Steerable Projectiles to develop "smart" munitions that find targets on their own; and, $1.35 million for the Advanced Molecular Medicine Initiative at the Duarte-based City of Hope National Medical Center.

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