Kay Bailey Hutchison: “the Military Construction bill is a very important bill this year. Senator Feinstein, the ranking member, and myself as…”

“the Military Construction bill is a very important bill this year. Senator Feinstein, the ranking member, and myself as chairman of the committee wanted to talk about its importance. This is a bill that focuses on the quality of life for our military personnel and also makes sure they have the family housing and training facilities they need. In addition to our Military Construction bill, this is the disaster supplemental. This is the bill that was chosen to provide help for hurricane victims in Florida and drought relief for our farmers. Also, the Alaska pipeline that is so important to the economy of our country as well as to the economy of Alaska is in this bill. I am very pleased we were able to produce a bill that encompassed all of these very important items at the close of this very important session. There is in the military construction conference report $4.5 billion for active components construction and $9.45 million for Guard and Reserve construction. It is important that we increase the quality of the training facilities for our Guard and Reserve. Senator Feinstein and I made a point of doing that during this conference because we felt the Guard and Reserve is way behind in keeping up with the training facilities they need and for the job we are asking them to do. They certainly deserve it.”