Abercrombie: House Passes 2007 Defense Appropriation Bill

Includes Critical Defense Research Projects for Hawaii

Washington, DC -- Congressman Neil Abercrombie announced Tuesday evening that the House of Representatives has approved the 377.4 billion Defense spending bill for 2007.  The appropriations measure will bring nearly $32 million in testing and research contracts to Hawaii.

  "These research and testing programs are critical for our national defense and will bring good high-tech jobs to Hawaii" said Abercrombie.  "They include a wide range of programs from increasing safety for Air Force flight crews to improving passive sonar systems and high- bandwidth laser communications.  All these projects will allow our military services to operate more effectively and, ultimately, keep our contry safer."

The research and testing projects include:

• Electro-Optical Passive Anti-Submarine Detection System - $6.7 million  
       Submarine detection Navy research program
  
• Optical Communications for Special Operations - $3 million
       High bandwidth laser communications system research
  
• Self-Deploying Infrared Streamer - $4 million
       Improved safety and rescue equipment for Air Force crews
  
• Air Sentinel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program - $1.6 million
       Software and UAV research program for automated UAV operations
  
• Marine Mammal Hearing Research Program - $1.5 million
       University of Hawaii research program to study hearing of marine mammals and impact of         
       ocean noise
  
• High Accuracy Network Determination System - $8 million
       Improved and low-cost automated system for tracking space objects
  
• Mapping and Detection of Unexploded Ordnance - $1.1 million
       Research program to develop new detection systems for buried military ordnance
  
• Wave Power Generation for Kaneohe Marine Corps Base - $1 million
       Wave power technology demonstration program to produce electricity for Kaneohe USMC     
       base
  

"I'm particularly proud that we were able to include funding in this bill to learn more about the impact of ocean noise on marine mammals, and a project for the development and demonstration of alternative energy sources," Abercrombie continued.

Abercrombie also hailed several important legislative provisions in the bill:

• A down payment of $23 billion to begin to repair the damage to US Army and US Marine Corps readiness caused by the war in Iraq;
  
• A ban on spending money to build permanent bases in Iraq, which is an important first step to bringing US troops home from Iraq; and
  
• A prohibition against the implementation of key aspects of the National Security Personnel System that would have gutted employee rights and labor-management rules for all civilian employees of the Department of Defense.

However, he said he was very disappointed in the measure's 2.2% pay raise for the military.  "This is far too low to make up for the added stress and expense faced by military families because of the war in Iraq.  Our troops and their families deserve better."

Abercrombie, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, also expressed disappointment at the level of funding for the construction of new ships and submariones for the U.S. Navy; "far too low," he said, "to maintain a strong and capable Navy."

The U.S. Senate will also consider final adoption of the 2007 Defense Appropriation bill this week.
                       

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