[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 19173]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000--CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 
2465.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     2465), have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their 
     respective Houses this report, signed by all of the 
     conferees.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will proceed to 
the consideration of the conference report. (The conference report is 
printed in the House proceedings of the Record of July 27, 1999.)
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I am very pleased to bring before the 
Senate the Military Construction Conference Report for fiscal year 
2000.
  Mr. President, this conference report was passed by the House of 
Representatives last week by a vote of 412 to 8. It was sent to the 
Senate late last week and now awaits or final passage.
  We have worked hard with our House colleagues to bring the Military 
Construction Conference to a successful conclusion.
  It reflects a strong bipartisan effort of behalf of the Senate and 
the House of Representatives.
  Both bodies took a different perspective on the allocation of 
military construction funding for the Department of Defense.
  However, in the final conference report, we met our goals of 
promoting quality of life initiatives and enhancing mission readiness.
  Mr. President, this bill has some points I want to highlight. It 
provides a total of $8.37 billion for military construction.
  Even though this is an increase of $2.9 billion over the President's 
budget for fiscal year 2000, it is still a reduction of $79 million 
from what was appropriated last year.
  The conferees rejected the administration proposal to incrementally 
fund military construction and family housing projects throughout the 
Department of Defense.
  Instead the conferees believed that fully funding these projects was 
essential for the well being and moral of the men and women who serve 
in uniform.
  Some 43 percent of the bill is allocated to family housing--a total 
of $3.6 billion. This includes new construction, improvements to 
existing units and funding for operation and maintenance of that 
housing.
  We strongly protected quality of life initiatives. We provided $643 
million for barracks, $22 million for child development centers, and 
$151 million for hospital and medical facilities.
  We provided a total of $695 million for the Guard and Reserve 
components. Overall this represents an increase of $560 million from 
the President's budget request.
  Many of those projects will enhance the readiness and mission 
capabilities of our Reserve and Guard forces, vital to out national 
defense.
  I would like to thank my ranking member, Senator Murray, for her 
assistance and support throughout this process. She and her staff was 
extremely helpful.
  I commend this product to the Senate and recommend that it be signed 
by the President without delay.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring before the Senate 
this conference report on the fiscal year 2000 military construction 
appropriations bill--the first of the 13 regular appropriations bills 
to be completed this year.
  This is a good bill, leaner than we would wish but sufficient to meet 
the Services' most pressing military construction needs, particularly 
in terms of readiness and quality of life projects. The projects funded 
in this bill will give the men and women of our armed forces--and their 
families--a wide array of improved facilities in which to work, to 
train, and to live.
  In my home state of Washington, for example, this bill provides 
nearly $129 million in funding for 16 different military construction 
projects plus $9 million for Army family housing at Fort Lewis.
  Congress was faced with a difficult situation this year when the 
Pentagon, in a radical departure from regular procedure, requested 
incremental funding for the entire slate of fiscal year 2000 military 
construction projects. Thanks to the cooperation of Chairman Stevens 
and Ranking Member Byrd, and to the efforts of Senator Burns on the 
Subcommittee, it didn't happen. What's more, we included language in 
our Committee report directing the Administration to fully fund all 
military construction requests in future budgets.
  Unfortunately, this bill reflects a continued decline in the amount 
of money that is being allocated to military construction. This year's 
bill is funded at a level of $8.374 billion, which is $76 million less 
than the fiscal year 1999 bill. And this is at a time when funding for 
the Defense appropriations bill is heading toward a major increase. 
Military construction does not have the glamour of some of the gee 
whiz, high-tech items in the defense bill, but it is an integral part 
of readiness and quality of life in the military. If military 
construction is underfunded, we will wind up undercutting our nation's 
war fighting capability. We must not allow that to occur.
  We will continue to fight the good fight for military construction 
dollars, ably led by our chairman, Senator Burns, who is an extremely 
effective advocate for the needs of the military and a pleasure to work 
with on the Committee. I thank Senator Burns, and Senators Stevens and 
Byrd, for their unflagging support, and I also thank the Subcommittee 
staff for their hard work on this bill.
  This is a good bipartisan conference report, and I urge my colleagues 
to accept it so that it can be sent to the President without delay and 
become the first fiscal year 2000 regular appropriations bills to be 
signed into law.
  Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the conference report be 
agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any 
statements relating to the conference report be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The conference report was agreed to.

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