136th Year... and
still on the
job!
Wednesday October 12,
2005
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136th Year... and
still on the
job!
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Wednesday October 12,
2005
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SEN. WAYNE Allard is doing everything in his power as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to keep the chemical destruction mission at Pueblo Chemical Depot on track.
Last week, he was able to get the Senate to approve a 2006 defense appropriations bill that includes $53 million specifically earmarked for two alternative technology programs under development at PCD and the Blue Grass Depot in Kentucky. The final funding level approved by the Senate is $20 million more than the president’s budget had requested.
Sen. Allard said that although the PCD project has been moving forward at a faster pace over the last four months, it was clear that more funding was needed to continue that progress. He added, “The bill also allows the program manager to use these funds either for research and development, or for actual construction of the demilitarization facilities.”
After witnessing delays and foot-dragging by the Pentagon, Sens. Allard and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky added a provision to the fiscal 2005 Supplemental Appropriations Act in March that ensured that the $372.3 million in funding budgeted in earlier years would not be transferred from Pueblo or Blue Grass to other sites. In addition, it directed the Department of Defense to send at least $100 million to the two sites within four months of the bill’s enactment, and prohibited the Pentagon from conducting a study on the transportation of chemical weapons across state lines.
Last month, Defense Undersecretary Kenneth Kreig reported to Congress that funding is flowing as required in Pueblo and Blue Grass. The report was mandated by a provision included in the March supplemental bill.
The Kreig report stated that, as of July 31, $16 million of the funds previously withheld by the Department of Defense had been sent to Pueblo, and that an additional $17 million for the Pueblo cleanup project was made available during the month of August.
It apparently will need ongoing vigilance to keep the project from flagging. We applaud Sen. Allard’s continued efforts.