Senate OKs $368M for military projects
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The U.S. Senate yesterday approved a military construction appropriations bill that provides more than $368 million for 26 Hawai'i projects in fiscal 2005 — a $29 million increase over last year.
Combined with money earmarked for Hawai'i in the defense appropriations bill, Hawai'i stands to receive more than $865 million in defense dollars, excluding funds for day-to-day operations.
The total for the state is $101 million more than last year.
"The funding for Hawai'i-related military construction will ensure that Hawai'i continues to play its crucial role in the nation's defense, and that training facilities will be upgraded to meet current missions requirements as we increasingly cope with unconventional threats," Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said.
A joint House-Senate conference committee, which includes Inouye as a conferee, will resolve differences between House and Senate versions of the military construction appropriations bill.
Funding for a planned Army Stryker brigade of 291 armored vehicles at Schofield Barracks and a squadron of eight C-17 cargo carriers at Hickam continues to stand out in the construction bill, with $34.3 million set aside for road and trail upgrades for the Strykers, $32 million for a "battle area live-fire complex," $32.5 million for a combined-arms training facility, and $30 million for West Pohakuloa Training Area modifications on the Big Island.
The Air Force is receiving $11.2 million for a cargo area expansion, $9 million for a C-17 maintenance and supply area, and $8.2 million for a C-17 shop facility.
Congress in July passed a $417.5 billion defense bill that designated $496.7 million for projects involving Hawai'i.
Jennifer Goto Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff, said such totals as $26.9 million for the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i, which was increased from $19 million last year, contributed to the increase.
Additionally, the defense bill includes $8.5 million for the creation of a partnership between Tripler Army Medical Center and Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i, and $10 million for the Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific at Ford Island.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
