Press Releases
| For Immediate Release: August 1, 2008 |
Contact: Austin Durrer 202-225-4376 |
House Reaffirms Strong Support for Veterans, Passes $1.5 Billion for BRAC at Ft. Belvoir, Ft. Myer |
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| Washington, D.C., August 1st – Congressman Jim Moran, Virginia Democrat and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, supported a number of Northern Virginia BRAC-related and military facility funding requests in the FY’09 Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs Appropriations bill (H.R. 6599). The bill was approved by the House on a 409-4 vote. It included $47.7 billion for Veterans’ health programs, a $4.6 billion increase over last year’s bill and $2.9 billion over the President’s request. “This is a down payment on the upgrades necessary to handle the influx of 19,000 new employees scheduled for relocation to Ft. Belvoir in three years,” said Moran. “While Defense installations are receiving the funds needed to comply with BRAC, the surrounding communities continue to struggle with the burden that’s been placed upon them. I will continue to fight for more transportation dollars and to designate local roads around Ft. Belvoir as ‘Defense Access Roads’ so that they are eligible for Defense funding. The Army and Fairfax County are partners. There needs to be a sharing of resources. So far, it’s mostly been flowing in only one direction. That needs to change.” Ft. Belvoir BRAC-related military construction projects ($1.4 billion total) • $36 million – Defense Access Roads – Finances the design and construction of installation entrances to the Engineer Proving Grounds. Construction is scheduled to be completed by December 2010. • $198 million – Fort Belvoir Hospital Replacement Increment 3 – Supports construction of the new, world-class Fort Belvoir Hospital which will replace Walter Reed Medical Command. • $744 million – Fort Belvoir NGA Headquarters Facility – Funding for phase II construction of the new National Geospatial Intelligence (NGA) facility on the Engineer Proving Ground. • $1,085,000 -- Readiness Center and NGB Conference Center – For the Virginia National Guard to construct a coordination facility at Fort Belvoir to help support the National Capital Region in the event of an attack or natural disaster. • $274 million – Fort Belvoir Office Complex – Construction funds for the Washington Headquarters Service relocation and development. The site of the new facility will be determined this fall. Leading contenders are the GSA Warehouse in Springfield, VA, Victory Center in Alexandria, VA and the Mark Center in Fairfax County. • $7.3 million – Fort Belvoir Emergency Services Center – To build a new, state of the art emergency services center on the Engineer Proving Grounds. • $91 million – Fort Belvoir Infrastructure Support -- BRAC funding for non-transportation infrastructure to support the NGA, new hospital and Washington Headquarters Service, at Fort Belvoir. • $8.3 million – Network Operations Center – BRAC funding to construct a facility to support Army Materiel Command (AMC) initiatives resulting from BRAC relocations. Funding for Ft. Myer, Arlington Hall and the Pentagon: • $300,000 – Hatfield Gate at Fort Myer – Provides for a study on a future expansion of Hatfield Gate at Ft. Myer designed to speed up the construction process. Fort Myer is expanding as part of the Army’s “grow-the-force initiative”, and this effort is necessary to ease traffic congestion along Washington Blvd. • $80.1 million – Armed Forces Reserve Center – BRAC funding for the relocation of the National Guard Bureau, Air National Guard, and Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington. Provides for construction of a new building and parking lot. • $14 million – Fort Myer Barracks – New facilities to accommodate a recent increase in the number of troops to be stationed at Fort Myer. • $6.9 million – Pentagon Athletic Center Phase 2 – To complete construction of the Pentagon’s new Athletic Center, replacing an older facility. • $16.4 million – Pentagon Force Protection Agency Hazardous Material Response Facility – Replaces the Pentagon’s old HAZMAT facility, currently located in a leased warehouse. The relocation meets the requirement of being within 5 minutes drive of the Pentagon, providing HAZMAT response and hosting the Chemical, Biological, Radiation (CBRN) response team and laboratory for on-site evaluation. • $15.5 million – Arlington Hall Readiness Center Phase 2 – Provides a permanent location for 1,200 staff relocated from Crystal City leased office space. --30-- |