Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono

Share This Page Slashdot Del.icio.us Google Digg Reddit Newsvine Furl Yahoo Facebook

Washington, Jul 10 -

Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) today voted in support of H.R. 3082, the FY2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. H.R. 3082 passed the House by a vote of 415 yeas to 3 nays.

The legislation includes $6,296,000 in FY2010 military construction funding for two projects in the State of Hawai‘i that Congresswoman Hirono and Congressman Abercrombie requested.

• $850,000 will be used to support the design of permanent waterfront facilities for production personnel working on ships undergoing major maintenance at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

• $5,446,000 will fund the design of a readiness center for the Joint Forces Headquarters-Hawaii Army National Guard (JFHQ-HIARNG). The organization is currently operating out of Fort Ruger at the Adjutant General’s headquarters and temporary facilities at Kalaeloa. Funding for this project will bring JFHQ-HIARNG closer to their major subordinate commands for improved command and control in addition to improved service delivery to soldiers and their families in support of the federal and state missions.

“This initial funding will get these projects moving and ultimately help Hawai‘i’s economy,” Hirono said. “The shipyard project is critically needed to help increase the capabilities of our workforce, reduce safety and health risks, improve maintenance schedules, and bring down costs. Funding for the readiness center is also vital to ensure that our National Guard receives the resources required to fulfill the security needs of our state and nation.”

In addition to funding for the projects, the military construction-veterans spending bill provides $53 billion to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide quality health care for our five million veterans and nearly $109 billion in funding ($14.5 billion above 2009) to the VA for veterans medical care, claims processors, and facility improvements. This includes funding that will add about 1,200 claims processors to reduce the backlog of benefits claims and decrease the time to process new claims.

A few highlights of the bill include

• $3.2 billion in assistance for homeless veterans;
• $3.3 billion for information technology, with new initiatives including paperless benefits processing and improvements in electronic health records;
• $200 million in additional funding for National Guard and Reserve facilities.

“H.R. 3082 builds on the commitment of Congress to our veterans and troops,” Hirono said. Previous congressional actions include historic veterans funding to strengthen health care, progress in improving our veterans’ hospitals and facilities, improving care for those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury, and an increase in other benefits for our troops and military families. Last year, Congress passed the new GI Bill of Rights to expand college education assistance for veterans and servicemembers. In June 2009, President Obama signed legislation extending these educational benefits to children of members of the armed forces who have died while on active duty.