House Appropriators Approve Series of Major Funding Bills
Major Increases in Federal Construction Programs

The House Appropriations Committee this week approved several important spending bills, including funding packages for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), housing programs administered by the Department of Defense, and the embassy construction program of the Department of State.

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: $5.584 billion, $246 million above 2007 and $713.4 million above the President’s request.

• Operations and Maintenance: $2.655 billion, $681.9 million above 2007 and $184 million above the President’s request to address an over $1 billion backlog of operations and maintenance needs to sustain the coastal and inland navigation infrastructure critical to the U.S. economy.

• Construction: $2.009 billion, $327.5 billion above 2007 for projects including ongoing measures to address gaps in flood protection put in the spotlight after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

• Hydropower: $95 million to repair and update hydropower dams to increase energy production.

• Management Reforms: Continues management reforms instituted at the Corps of Engineers, including the requirement for five-year plans and limitations on reprogramming and contracting methods.

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION: $21.4 billion, $207 million over the President’s request, and $5.1 billion above 2007 (including Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in the supplemental). The historic increase is largely due to costs associated with BRAC and plans to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps.

• 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) and Re-stationing: $8.2 billion, $2.5 billion above 2007 (including BRAC in the supplemental) and matching the President’s request to implement base closures and realignments, as well as the re-stationing of 70,000 troops and their families from overseas to the United States. It also funds planning for the eventual relocation of 8,000 Marines and 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam.

• 1990 BRAC: $271 million, $18 million above 2007 and $50 million above the President’s request to address an estimated $3.5 billion backlog in needed environmental cleanup for bases closed during the four previous BRAC rounds.

• Military Housing: $2.9 billion, fully funding the President’s request for military housing, supporting the elimination of a further 13,727 inadequate family housing units.

• Growing the Force: $2.8 billion to support the President’s proposal to increase the size of the Army by 65,000, the Marine Corps by 27,000, and the Guard and Reserve by 9,200 over the next five years. The bill requires GAO to study the adequacy of the administration’s planning and budgeting process for construction of housing and operational facilities to support this growth.

DEPARMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: $43.2 billion, $6.7 billion above 2007 and $3.8 billion over the President’s request for veterans’ medical care, claims processing personnel, and facility improvements.

• Major Construction: $1.4 billion, $683 million above 2007 to fulfill the Department’s commitment to fund recommendations made by the Capitol Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission, which was established to look at facilities and determine their construction needs.

• Extended Care Facilities: $165 million, $80 million above 2007, for grants to states for construction and modification of extended care facilities and for construction of three new facilities.

• Medical Facilities: $4.1 billion, $508 million above the President’s request and $530 million above 2007 for ongoing maintenance and renovations of existing facilities. The Department currently estimates a maintenance backlog of over $5 billion.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations approved its funding package which fully funds the President’s budget request of $1.6 billion for Department’s embassy security construction and maintenance program. A vote by the full committee is expected on June 12.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR:

• Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) Program:  $1.125 billion, $400 million above 2007.

• Safe Drinking Water SRF:  $850 million, comparable to the current fiscal year.

• Bureau of Reclamation and Central Utah Project: $1.073 billion, $72 million above the President’s request and $13.9 million above 2007 for dams, canals, water treatment and conservation, and rural water projects.

For more information contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.  [ return to top ]