Washington, DC - House-Senate negotiators have given final approval for a $9.316 billion spending package to fund construction, housing, and remediation projects at U.S. military bases across the nation and around the world. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is Ranking Member of the subcommittee.

"Given our military operations in Iraq and in the war on terror, it is critical that the Congress adequately funds programs for military construction, family housing, and environmental remediation." Senator Feinstein said. "This year our allocation was cut by 15 percent - over $1 billion - and a number of hard choices had to be made. But despite tight budgetary constraints, I believe this is a balanced bill that will help provide the infrastructure that continues to allow our military to be a highly effective fighting force."

The package contains:

• $5.16 billion for military construction projects - used for the construction of barracks, child development centers, hospitals and medical facilities, security investments, and funding for guard and reserve units.



• $3.8 billion of Family Housing Projects -- used for the construction of new family housing as well as improvements and maintenance of existing housing units.



• $370 million for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) environmental cleanup projects.

The legislation also includes provisions to:

• Establish an Overseas Basing Commission. This would be a Congressionally appointed commission to study the structure of U.S. overseas military facilities and report its conclusions and recommendations to Congress and the President by December 31, 2004. Senators Hutchison and Feinstein introduced legislation to create this commission on April 29, 2003.



• Ensure that the Department of Defense will respond appropriately to clean up perchlorate contamination after a federal or state perchlorate standard is set by:
  

• -Requiring that the Department submit a report by April 30, 2004 on the activities of the Interagency Perchlorate Steering Committee, which was established to examine how perchlorate contamination has affected drinking water supplies and irrigation water supplies.

• -Identifying sources of perchlorate on BRAC properties and developing a plan to remediate perchlorate contamination on BRAC sites that can be implemented quickly once state or Federal perchlorate standards are set.

"In addition, we were faced with another challenge this year in determining how to deal with overseas military construction programs at a time when the Defense Department is proposing what has been described as the most sweeping change in America's military presence overseas since World War II," Senator Feinstein said. "It has become clear to Senator Hutchison and me that the Department was far from finalizing its global realignment plans, and indeed, we continue to read almost daily about different proposals for moving U.S. forces here and there overseas. For this reason, we are recommending a pause in funding a number of proposed construction projects in Europe and Korea until the Defense Department completes its overseas basing review and presents a comprehensive plan to Congress. The overseas basing commission that Senator Hutchison and I are proposing in this bill will provide another important layer of oversight to this process.

"There is another item in the military construction bill that is extremely important to me, and that is the environmental clean up of military installations. The FY 2004 bill includes just $370 million for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) environmental cleanup. This is a significant drop from last year's funding, and it is a level of funding that I accept only reluctantly, and only because the Defense Department is embarking on a new and ambitious program to raise revenue for environmental cleanup at BRAC sites through land sales.

I believe that the Defense Department has the responsibility to complete, to the maximum extent possible, the cleanup of military installations closed or realigned through previous BRAC rounds before embarking on a new BRAC round in 2005. I am hopeful that self financing through land sales will be sufficient to supplement appropriated amounts, but I intend to keep a close watch on this program to ensure that we do not sacrifice momentum by relying too heavily on land sale revenue.

I am also concerned about a new environmental threat that has emerged from defense sites, and that is perchlorate contamination of drinking water. Perchlorate is a chemical used in solid rocket propellent. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified it as an unregulated toxin that is suspected of being a cancer causing contaminant. Perchlorate has been found in drinking water in 29 states - well more than half the country - and it is a particular problem in California, Texas, Nevada, Colorado and others.

Finally, I am very disappointed that the Department of Defense has been unresponsive to requests to take a leadership role in addressing the concerns of the public and water agencies with regard to perchlorate. This is why I added language to the report accompanying this bill that requires the Defense Department to identify sources of perchlorate contamination on BRAC properties, and to develop a remediation plan that can be implemented rapidly once federal or state perchlorate standards are set. This is a small step in what I believe needs to be a comprehensive effort on the part of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Defense Department to address and resolve perchlorate contamination of drinking water resulting from defense activities."

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