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Military Construction Budget Downsized For First Time In History

The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Subcommittee made history when it voted on the 2012 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill. For the first time in history, the subcommittee eliminated $750 million from the amount requested for military construction, leaving only $14 billion in the bill for military construction appropriations over fiscal year 2012. The modified bill will now go before the Full House Appropriations Committee.

Construction projects for military facilities will be cut by the bill, but the cuts are limited and focused. Other projects that will continue receiving funding include:

 

• family housing;
• chemical demilitarization construction;
• the NATO Security Investment Program; and
• base realignment and closure (BRAC) requirements.

 

Compared to FY 2011, FY 2012 military construction funding is down $2.6 billion.  The subcommittee noted a large part of this difference is rooted in lower funding requirements for BRAC as well as less demand for BRAC construction projects.

Last year's sessions had Congress struggling to consider such bills later in their sessions than desired. That these bills are being considered so early in the session this year should be considered progress, according to many lawmakers.

Hopefully this will allow better planning for military construction over the year as opposed to last year where it was not known until August how much money would be in the coffer for which projects.

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