Dianne Feinstein: “I am very pleased to bring before the Senate the conference agreement on the fiscal year 2002 military construction…”

“I am very pleased to bring before the Senate the conference agreement on the fiscal year 2002 military construction appropriations bill. Given the circumstances, this is a particularly timely and time-sensitive conference report. The military construction conference agreement provides $10.5 billion of new budget authority. That is a 17.5-percent increase over last year's military construction funding, and it is a 5.3-percent increase over the President's budget request. This statistic alone sends a strong message of support to America's men and women in uniform. This is a good package. It meets the most pressing needs of the military, both in terms of readiness and quality-of-life issues. It is not, of course, a perfect package. The conference report does not include everything the Senate wanted, nor does it include everything the House wanted. It does, however, address the priorities of the Department of Defense, which I think is most important, as well as both Houses of Congress. It is a carefully crafted compromise. It is both balanced and bipartisan.”