Patty Murray: “I am pleased and relieved that after weeks of uncertainty we have finally reached this point, and that we are ready to…”

“I am pleased and relieved that after weeks of uncertainty we have finally reached this point, and that we are ready to act on the Military Construction Bill. As always, I thank Senator Burns, the Chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee for his leadership and bipartisan cooperation. I also want to thank Chairman Stevens and Senator Byrd for their work in producing this bill. They set an excellent example for all of us to follow. The FY 2001 Military Construction Appropriations Bill provides $8.8 billion dollars in spending. This agreement also represents a tremendous amount of work and a great deal of cooperation between the House and Senate. We went into conference with very different recommendations for projects, and simply not enough money to go around. We came out with a bipartisan package that is fair and balanced and, most importantly, addresses some of our most pressing military construction needs. I wish we could have done more because the needs are so significant. As our nation continues to tally up ever-larger budget surpluses, I hope that the Defense Department will channel more resources into military construction. We simply cannot continue to balance the best military in the world on the back of a crumbling infrastructure. We ask tremendous sacrifices from our military families, and this bill is an opportunity to address their pressing needs.”