Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico

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Wilson Named Conferee for Defense Bill	September 29, 2004

*Wilson to Continue Work for New Mexico Priorities* Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today announced that she has been named a conferee for the 2005 Defense Authorization Bill. The bill is of tremendous importance to New Mexico, influencing national defense programs and promoting jobs at New Mexico’s labs and bases. “This one bill sends billions of dollars directly to New Mexico,” Wilson said. “If enacted into law, it will put our bases in a better position and mean jobs in our state.” New Mexico’s priorities are in the House bill (Fiscal Year 2005 National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 4200) which passed 391-34 in May, and is now going to conference with the U.S. Senate. Wilson, who earlier this month urged a conference Readiness panel to support base criteria that she authored, said she expects the final bill to include elements of both versions. Some of the highlights of the House-passed bill include the Wilson-proposed improvements to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) criteria, a Wilson-cosponsored increase in Survivor Benefits, a Wilson-backed increase in active troop levels by 39,000 over three years, a two-year delay of BRAC, and a string of Defense-related funding and projects in New Mexico totaling in the billions of dollars. The BRAC provisions are not in the Senate version of the Defense bill. Wilson has already worked extensively on this bill, as the only member of New Mexico’s Congressional delegation who serves on an armed services committee with jurisdiction over the military and the national laboratories. As approved in the House-passed bill, the legislation will help protect New Mexico’s bases from closure. It contains Congresswoman Wilson’s proposal to include research, development and testing in the criteria that must be used in the next round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). It would also require DoD to calculate cost savings to the taxpayer, not just cost savings to the Department of Defense, an important provision for Kirtland Air Force Base with its large Department of Energy presence. Wilson opposes BRAC, but introduced these measures to add priorities that were missing from the Defense Department’s criteria. “These criteria are the lens through which bases will be evaluated,” Wilson said. “The DOD proposed to use Cold War criteria that valued current operations, logistics and training but completely ignored the need to have research, development and testing facilities for the next generation of weapons systems.” The bill improves the Survivor Benefits Plan (SBP) with a Wilson-cosponsored increase that eliminates the Social Security offset by increasing the annuities paid to survivors of military retirees who are 62 or older. “We are making important progress for our veterans and their families,” Wilson said. “Fixing the inequity in the Survivor Benefit this year will build on last year’s improvements to concurrent receipt and increased funding for veterans’ health care.” —END—