[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATION ACT, 2008

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 12, 2007

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, as we consider the FY 2008 Military 
Constructions Appropriations Act, I am concerned that we are 
significantly under funding our commitment to clean up communities 
impacted by base closures in the past. There is an estimated $3.5 
billion backlog of environmental cleanup at bases closed during the 
previous BRAC rounds. Unfortunately, the funding levels in this bill 
are not enough to make a dent in cleaning up bases closed in previous 
BRAC rounds.
  The bill does include significant funding to deal with cleanup at 
bases closed in the 2005 BRAC round. The irony is that the new round of 
BRAC has so much money appropriated that current outlays will spend 
less than 10% in the upcoming fiscal year of its budget authority while 
in the same vein the Legacy BRAC account will be spending nearly half 
of its budget authority in the same fiscal year. I appreciate that 
there is an increase above the President's budget for this effort, but 
it is simply not enough to make up for past years of Congress 
abrogating its responsibility of environmental restoration of past BRAC 
rounds.
  Communities across the nation have waited decades for remediation and 
at the current levels of funding will have to wait for over 40 years 
before the job is done. In order to address this problem, I am 
submitting the following amendment with my colleague Congresswoman 
Brown-Waite in order to properly finish the job of environmental clean 
up at former military bases before we can fully address a new round of 
cleanup.
  The amendment I am offering decreases by $201,000,000 the Base 
Realignment and Closure Account 2005 account and increases the Base 
Realignment and Closure Account 1990 by $50,000,000 in order to work 
towards this goal. CBO has scored this amendment as outlay neutral.

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