Tom Harkin: “I am pleased to be offering with Senator Grassley and with our colleagues from Illinois, New York, and Arkansas, a…”

“I am pleased to be offering with Senator Grassley and with our colleagues from Illinois, New York, and Arkansas, a bipartisan amendment of importance to Rock Island Arsenal. This amendment is needed for the continuation of the Arsenal Support Program Initiative, or ASPI. In 1992 we passed the ARMS initiative to help the ammunition plants, including the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, bring in commercial tenants that would pay part of the cost of these large plants. The initiative has been very successful and has saved taxpayers money. ASPI brings a similar program to the Rock Island, Watervliet, and Pine Bluff arsenals. Rock Island and the other arsenals have extraordinary workforce, space, and equipment that are underutilized in peacetime operations but are needed for wartime surge capabilities as well as smaller critical emergencies. The costs of the underutilized space and equipment must be paid for directly by taxpayers, or charged as overhead to work at the arsenals, causing high prices to military customers and, in an unfortunate spiral, decreasing utilization of the arsenals. ASPI is intended to help bring in commercial firms to use the available workforce, buildings, and equipment and help pay for their costs. ASPI was first passed in the fiscal year 01 Defense Authorization bill as a two-year pilot program. It was funded for the first time last year with $7.5 million in the fiscal year 02 Defense Appropriations bill.”