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| Defense Bill Goes to House Floor |
May 15, 2003 |
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Wilson Provisions on Labs, Military Construction, Space Included
Washington, DC – The House Armed Services Committee finished action on the FY04 Defense Authorization bill that provides military pay raises, funds New Mexico defense-related projects, and protects funding for Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
Armed Services Committee members, including Congresswoman Heather Wilson, worked late into the night Tuesday and Wednesday on the bill, which authorizes all funding for America’s defense and for the nuclear weapons program in the Department of the Energy.
The bill is scheduled to be debated and voted on the House floor the week of May 19.
Funding for National Laboratories
The defense authorization bill includes $8.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration which funds stockpile stewardship at the nation’s laboratories, including Albuquerque’s Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratories in Northern New Mexico. Funding for Laboratory Directed Research and Development, a program that has come under fire in years past, is maintained at 6 percent of laboratory budget.
The LDRD program, under the Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous nuclear security branch, is structured to pursue innovative and creative science and technology specifically selected to address national security needs. Projects undertaken under the auspices of the LDRD program often contribute to the needs of multiple programs and federal agencies. Over the years, Wilson has worked behind the scenes with her colleagues to preserve LDRD funding, despite harsh criticisms by some members after a 2001 DOE report on the program failed to effectively tout the program’s benefits.
Today’s committee mark also supports restarting advanced concepts at the labs and continued study of ways to hold deeply buried targets at risk. The bill authorizes funds to improve DOE’s readiness to test nuclear weapons from 36 months under current estimates to 18 months. Both of these proposals were recommended in a report Wilson released in February by the House Policy Committee on Nuclear Strategy and Force Posture.
Military Construction in New Mexico
The bill authorizes five military construction projects in New Mexico.
·$2.533 million to add or alter an Army National Guard readiness center in Albuquerque
·$6.957 million for an Arsenic Treatment plant at Kirtland Air Force Base
·$4.15 million for an electrical power main switching station at Kirtland Air Force Base
·$14.6 million for replacing military family housing at White Sands Missile Range
·$3.6 million to upgrade the radar test facility at Tularosa
Pay Raises for Military Members
The Authorization bill calls for an increase in basic pay for military members by an average of 4.1 percent. Also included are unspecified targeted increases for mid-grade and noncommissioned officers and “select warrant officers.” Recruitment and retention incentives such as housing allowances and strengthened programs for our National Guard and Reserve personnel are included.
“Our whole nation is proud of the honorable conduct of the men and women of our military,” says Wilson. “Over the last three years we have narrowed the gap between military pay and pay for comparable jobs in the civilian sector.”
Missile Defense
The bill funds ballistic missile defense programs at $9.1 billion for the Missile Defense Agency and the military departments. But the bill moves funding from longer term efforts to those that will provide more immediate benefit to the war fighter, like the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles used in both Gulf Wars. It includes funds for an additional 30 Patriot PAC-3 missiles. Altogether, $282 million is shifted from activities with longer term pay-off to more near term requirements, particularly in the area of theater missile defense.
Linking Space to the Battlefield
In addition to provisions negotiated into the bill, Wilson offered two amendments that were included in packages offered by Committee Chairmen.
The first Wilson amendment seeks to ensure that the war fighter will have better access to space capabilities like satellites. The amendment calls for improving the process to make space assets controlled by STRATCOM (Strategic Command) more available for the war fighter. Intelligence and technology are two of our country’s strategic advantages that Wilson feels we must continue to push in order to maintain combat superiority. The amendment calls for a process to be put into place at STRATCOM and for the Secretary of Defense to report on that by next March.
“Space capabilities are transforming the way we fight and the technology available to those protecting our freedom will continue to evolve,” said Wilson, Vice Chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee that oversees military use of space. “We will continue to look for ways to better connect space to the war fighter.”
Stemming the WMD Tide
The other amendment added by Wilson today authorizes the Counter-proliferation Program Review Committee for an additional four years, through FY08. This is the inter-agency committee that plans for development and deployment of technologies to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Committee, chaired by DOD Secretary Don Rumsfeld, plans for development and deployment of technologies to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“We cannot let up in our efforts to fight against those who seek to acquire or proliferate weapons of mass destruction,” said Wilson. “We need everyone in the agencies to work together, plan for the long term, and ensure resources are going towards developing the most promising technologies in this fight.”
BRAC
Wilson continued her consistent opposition to another round of BRAC by supporting a provision that would put a hold on the scheduled BRAC round in 2005. That position did not prevail and the scheduled BRAC round will likely proceed.
However, the committee approved two important limitations on the 2005 BRAC round. First, the committee approved adding a step to the BRAC process that would require DOD announce bases that are not subject to closure up front -- no later than April 1, 2005.
“No one believes they are going to close the Pentagon or West Point. The Defense Department should take some bases off the table so that communities can avoid the expense and anxiety that comes with BRAC,” Wilson said. “In my view, Kirtland should be taken off the table. It is a national base and they made a mistake proposing to realigning it in 1995.”
Second, the committee set some limits on the force structure we should build down to as no less than that needed for the 1991 force structure.
“We need enough space to surge and, if needed, to bring troops back from overseas," Wilson said. "Once you lose a base, it is almost impossible to get it back.”
Defense Spending
The bill authorizes spending $400.5 billion for defense and DOE defense-related programs in the fiscal year that starts next October. That is a 4.6% increase over the current year authorization.
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