136th Year... and
still
on the job!
Friday December 23,
2005
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136th Year... and
still
on the job!
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Friday December 23,
2005
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A signature from President Bush is all that's needed now to free another $51 million in federal money to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles stored in Colorado and Kentucky.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday OK'd the 2006 Defense Authorization bill, approving the Senate's action on Wednesday that stripped out a rider allowing oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
The House had to take another look at the spending bill because its version had included the ANWR drilling measure.
The $453.3 billion bill includes $51 million that can be used for research and design work as well as construction related to weapons destruction programs at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and the Blue Grass Army Depot.
The president's original request was for $31 million, but lawmakers from the two states added another $20 million hoping to speed up the delayed projects. That action was led by Sens. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Colorado's freshman Democratic senator, Ken Salazar also supported the boost as did his brother John, a House who member was named to the conference committee that handled the bill.
Last year, the Defense Department froze all design work for the two plants, charging their lifetime costs would be more than originally projected. The higher price tags were due to the Pentagon's own order to accelerate the programs, but now both are being redesigned to bring the costs back into original projections.
Both programs are using water neutralization to destroy the weapons, mustard agent in Pueblo and both mustard and nerve agent in Kentucky.
Allard, who served on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, "This funding reflects Congress's commitment to the well-being of the people of Pueblo, as well as meeting our nation's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Treaty.
"We have ensured that this project will continue to move forward toward completion."
He also said that the language in the bill gives program managers more leeway in how the money is spent, saying, "Bureaucratic impediments cannot be allowed to interfere with this project."
Allard also signed on earlier in the year to McConnell's request that the Defense Department start spending money allocated to the projects, $100 million over the summer and the lawmakers added a provision to the fiscal 2005 Supplemental Appropriations Act that made sure $372.3 million in funding budgeted in earlier years would not be transferred from Pueblo or Blue Grass to other sites.