[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 83 (Friday, May 28, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E997-E998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 27, 2010

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5136) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
     other purposes:

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Chair, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 5136, 
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. The bill 
continues a strong tradition under the leadership of Chairman Ike 
Skelton of Missouri of providing our men and women in uniform with the 
training, equipment and authorities that they need to protect our 
country. In particular, I rise in strong support of subtitle C of title 
28 of this bill which includes several provisions that further 
strengthen Congressional oversight of the military build-up on Guam and 
directly address concerns raised in the draft environmental impact 
statement on the military build-up.
  Of significant importance is Section 2822 which grants authority to 
the Secretary of Defense to assist the Government of Guam in

[[Page E998]]

providing funding for civilian infrastructure improvements required as 
a result of the realignment of military installations and the 
relocation of military personnel on Guam. Congress has granted this 
authority before, most recently during the realignment of forces to 
Bangor, Washington. The authority granted to the Secretary addresses 
concerns raised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and our 
community in regards to mitigating the impact of the buildup on our 
local infrastructure. The authority granted in Section 2822 also 
expands on President Obama's request for $50 million in transfer 
authority to modernize infrastructure at the Port of Guam. To 
accommodate the influx of servicemembers and their dependents, our 
island will have to modernize aging infrastructure, build and repair 
roads, improve water and wastewater capacity, and increase capacity at 
the Port of Guam among many other preparations. This authority will 
assist our island in preparing for the realignment of forces to Guam 
and mitigate impact to our community.
  Section 2824 is also important as it allows the Secretary of Defense 
to transfer rights and management authority of Navy's water and 
wastewater system to the Guam Waterworks Authority. This provision will 
create one single water and wastewater system on the island, create 
economies of scale, and will remove redundancies in our current system.
  Most importantly, I worked to include an amendment that incorporated 
the full text of H.R. 44, ``The Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition 
Act,'' to the National Defense Authority Act for Fiscal Year 2011. This 
provision would recognize the people of Guam for their sacrifices 
during World War II when Guam was occupied by enemy forces. With the 
realignment of forces to Guam, it is important that this longstanding 
issue be resolved so that the military build-up on Guam is implemented 
with community support. The Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act 
was adopted by the House as an amendment to the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, but was subsequently removed 
during conference with the Senate. I thank my colleagues for voting to 
adopt this provision once again.
  I want to thank Chairman Ike Skelton of the House Armed Services for 
his leadership on issues affecting the readiness of our military 
forces. I look forward to working with my colleagues toward passage of 
H.R. 5136 by the full House of Representatives.

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