|
Wilson projects for New Mexico amount to over $37 million
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Heather Wilson voted today in favor of the conference report for the FY 2008 Department of Defense appropriations bill that funds military and defense projects. The conference report was the culmination of talks between the House and Senate to work out the differences in each chamber’s appropriations bill. It passed by a vote of 400-15.
The bill contains $459.6 billion for the Department of Defense and continues funding for federal agencies for which separate FY 2008 appropriations have not yet been enacted at current levels through December 14, 2007.
The final bill includes a military pay raise of 3.5%. In addition, it contains $925 million in funds to address National Guard and Reserve equipment shortfalls, a $685 million increase over 2007 that will help forces meet the demands of overseas deployments while continuing to respond to natural disasters here at home. Over $23 billion is slated for defense health, including TRICARE, updates to electronic medical records, enhancing preventative medicine programs and military medical research.
Also included is $15 million for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program in this bill, with additional funding requested in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill still under consideration by the Senate. Funding for missile defense totals $8.7 billion to enable the military to develop and field a robust ballistic missile defense system.
"I am pleased the House and Senate have come to an agreement on defense spending, and I support this essential legislation," said Wilson. "The initial funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program and missile defense is a good start, and I hope to see an increase in funding for these programs in the future."
The final bill did include an increase of funding for the Future Combat Systems over the amount originally appropriated by the House, bringing the total for this program in FY 2008 to $3.3 billion.
The National Guard mission along the southwest border will continue to be funded next year, with an allocation of $247 million in this bill. The New Mexico National Guard will receive $3 million to conduct counter-drug missions along the border, which Wilson supported.
The bill contains fourteen projects requested or supported by Wilson, totaling $37.15 million.
"New Mexico is known for research and technology in support of our nation’s security. These projects continue that tradition."
New Mexico projects requested by Wilson:
Geospatial Science Initiative, New Mexico State University, to establish a center for geospatial education for the next generation of GEOINT analysts – $850,000.
Robust Multi-spectral Fingerprint Capture, Lumidigm, to develop a rugged, portable, compact, affordable fingerprint capture device to be used in military operations – $2,000,000.
High Energy Laser System Test Facility, Northrup Grumman, to operate the only DoD facility dedicated to testing and evaluating high-energy laser weapon programs – $3,000,000.
SkyPure, MesoSystems, to develop a system to deliver potable water to deployed troops through waste heat and solar energy – $1,600,000.
Advanced Modular Avionics for Operationally Responsive Space, Goodrich, to develop avionics that can be interoperable and interchangeable for systems used on tactical satellites – $2,000,000.
Satellite Active Imaging National Testbed, Trex Enterprises, to expand space object identification and capabilities analysis – $2,400,000.
Electromagnetic Detection and Imaging Transceiver, Stolar Research to develop a tool to detect and confirm the presence of shallow subsurface tunnels, bunkers, and caches – $800,000.
Playas Training and Research Training and Research Center, New Mexico Tech to establish Playas as a Joint National Training and Experimentation Site for Army National Guard personnel – $3,200,000.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Systems and Operations Validation Program, New Mexico State University to address small to medium UAV issues such as interoperability, sensor interchangeability, reliability, and other operationally relevant missions – $4,000,000.
University Strategic Partnerships, University of New Mexico to partner with Defense Threat Reduction Agency in research into the areas of bio-technology, nano-technology, materials science, information science, infectious diseases, and other national security research topics – $3,200,000.
Magdalena Ridge Observatory, New Mexico Tech to develop tools for the observatory to enhance capabilities in space situational awareness – $6,500,000.
Wilson wrote letters to Defense conference leaders in support of the following projects for New Mexico:
New Mexico National Guard Counter Drug efforts, New Mexico National Guard – $3,000,000.
Field Programmable Gate Arrays, University of New Mexico – $1,600,000.
High Energy Laser System Test Facility, Northrup Grumman (in addition to amount requested) – $3,000,000.
In addition to the projects, Wilson supported a provision contained in the final bill that prohibits funding for activities contradicting the UN Convention Against Torture.
- END - |