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| Congressional Panel Slated to Visit NM National Labs |
January 05, 2004 |
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Albuquerque, New Mexico — Congresswoman Heather Wilson will welcome members of a congressional subcommittee on a visit of Sandia National Laboratories this week. Members of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee will make a three-day swing to learn about New Mexico’s Sandia and Los Alamos laboratories, and the Pantex nuclear weapons facility in Amarillo, TX. Wilson is vice-chair of the panel.
The delegation will visit each of the three facilities over a three-day period, beginning Tuesday. Wilson, who says the Labs are a job-creating force in the state, will highlight the contributions Sandia and Los Alamos make to keeping our nation secure.
“Combined, the labs in New Mexico account for close to $10 billion in economic activity in our state. Twenty-thousand people work at Sandia or Los Alamos,” says Wilson. “Our national laboratories are important partners in New Mexico’s economy. They are also crown jewels in the science that contributes to our security. It’s to our benefit to have national leaders like my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee visit our facilities to learn more about how they contribute to the safety of our nation.”
Joining Wilson for the tours will be subcommittee chairman Rep. Terry Everett (R-AL-02), ranking member Silvestre Reyes (D-TX-16), and Rep. John Spratt (D-SC-05). Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX-13) will host the group in Amarillo for a tour of the Pantex nuclear weapons facility there. Ambassador Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, will also participate in the tour. The NNSA, a semi-autonomous part of the Department of Energy, which oversees the nation’s nuclear laboratories.
The Strategic Forces subcommittee has responsibility over programs of high importance to New Mexico including the Department of Energy national security programs at the national laboratories, space programs, and ballistic missile defense. Wilson has been a member of the House Armed Services Committee since 2000, and Vice-Chair of the subcommittee since February 2003.
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