Washington, May 18, 2005 -  

The House Appropriations Committee approved Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Act of 2006 in its full committee markup today. U.S. Representative John Carter (TX-31) is pleased that the second step in the appropriations process is complete and that it retained the funding set aside for Ft. Hood and Veterans.

The legislation provides $57,338,000 for military construction projects at Ft. Hood and $68,112,300,000 for veterans.

At the request of Carter, an allocation of $4.1 million was made for a fire station at North Fort Hood. The funding will be used to construct a fire station with air rescue capability to replace the existing fire station. The existing fire station is antiquated, deteriorating, and is too small to accommodate modern fire fighting equipment. The existing fire station is located on the East side of Highway 36, while all future North Fort Hood construction, which includes barracks, head quarters, and motor pools, is planned on the West side. The separation will cause unacceptable delays in reaction times. This structure is included in the Future Years Defense Plan for FY09.

Carter worked with Rep. Chet Edwards who requested a physical fitness center for West Ft. Hood. This $6.8 million project will replace the existing facility and provide support for the increased troop strength and help meet the required Army Physical Fitness Skill Training. This project will help reduce the post-wide deficit of physical fitness centers at Fort Hood.

These requests are an addition to the $46.438 million included in the President’s Budget, as part of the 2006 Future Years Defense Plan, for Ft. Hood. This funding will be used for a vehicle maintenance shop, qualification training range, battalion command and control facilities, another fire station and a multipurpose scout qualification course.

As for Veterans, $68,112,300,000 was allocated, which is $635,000,000 above the President’s request and $2,273,468,000 more than last year. Of this funding, $20,995,141,000 is set aside for Veterans Health Administration Medical Services, which covers veteran’s hospitals, out-patient clinics and nursing homes. The subcommittee also rejected a proposed budget cut for state-run veteran nursing homes for long-term care. Carter took an active role in making sure these nursing homes did not lose their funding by raising his objections within committee meetings and hearings.

Now, the bill will wait to be brought to the floor of the House before going to the Senate for approval.