Hawaii Approved for $400 Million in Military Construction

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Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01) announced today that the House Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Readiness passed its portion of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014.

 

This year’s version of the bill would provide Hawaii with more than $400 million in military construction (MILCON) funding for continued upgrades to critical infrastructure and training assets in the state.

 

The MILCON funding will contribute to various projects at military installations, including:

 

  • Fort Shafter – $65,000,000
  • Marine Corps Base Hawaii – $236,982,000
  • Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard – $57,998,000
  • Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam – $37,600,000
  • Ford Island – DISA – $2,615,000

 

“This funding recognizes the military’s continued commitment to Hawaii being a center piece of its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific,” Hanabusa said. “ It is anticipated that military construction will advance to new all-time highs in the years ahead and help Hawaii conduct a significant and sustainable expansion, all while providing jobs and acting as a catalyst for the state economy.  Projects like the Aviation Plan at Marine Corps Base Hawaii will get our state ready as we prepare to receive thousands more Marines from the Defense Posture Review Initiative.”

 

The bill also included a measure Hanabusa helped craft requiring a report by the Comptroller General on the Department of Defense implementation of civilian furloughs.  The report will analyze the process by which the Department of Defense planned for, implemented, and is monitoring furloughs of the civilian workforce.

 

“I have not been shy in voicing my opposition to the process that DoD has used to implement furloughs on its civilian workforce.  The Pentagon is still planning to mandate that all furloughs be applied in the same manner across all services, even after several branches stated they have excess operating funds to avoid furloughs entirely.  I believe that flexibility should be present to mitigate the impacts of sequestration, and it is my hope that a full review of the DoD policy will lead us in that direction.”

 

On May 14, Pentagon officials announced that most civilian employees would still be subject for up to 11 furlough days.  A specific exception to furloughs was provided for shipyard workers and other maintenance technicians, something Hanabusa has continuously advocated for.

 

Congresswoman Hanabusa is a member of the Readiness Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over military operations, training, logistics, and deployment preparation and processes.  The subcommittee is also responsible for all military construction, depot policy, installations and family housing issues, and energy policy and programs of the Department of Defense.

 

The subcommittee’s markup will be included in the House version of the NDAA which is scheduled to be considered by the full committee on June 5th.

 

Submitted by the office of Rep. Colleen Hanabusa

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3 COMMENTS

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