A military spending bill that passed the Senate’s Appropriations Committee on Thursday provides heavy increases in funding for military installations throughout Maryland, including nearly $215 million for projects at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda related to the Base Realignment and Closure Act.
Building on President Bush’s earlier budget figures, the 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 2008 spending bill seeks more than $21.5 billion in federal funding to support new military construction costs nationwide.
The regional impact includes a proposed $984.2 million for projects at Maryland military facilities for BRAC and other projects, according to information released Thursday afternoon by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.
The military facility getting the largest dollars in Maryland is the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County, which will get $287 million, half of which is devoted to BRAC.
In Montgomery County, $214.8 million in BRAC funding from the spending bill is to be set aside for the Joint Medical Command headquarters at the National Naval Medical.
Precise descriptions of what this money would fund were not available Thursday.
Other big-ticket items in the bill are:
» $150 million for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick.
» $52.1 million for the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland.
» $28 million in BRAC funding for the Air National Guard and Readiness Center headquarters at Andrews Air Force Base.
» $21.1 million in BRAC funding for the Center of Excellence for Infectious Disease at the Walter Reed Annex in Forest Glen.
The bill also includes $87.5 million for critical Department of Veterans Affairs programs, which reflects the largest increase for veterans’ health care in the 77 years of the department’s existence and is $4 million higher than the president’s numbers.
Mikulski said in a statement that aiding Maryland’s military facilities has been a major focus for her.
“A stronger America begins at home,” she said. “That’s why every year, I fight to make sure Maryland communities have what they need in the federal checkbook to implement the BRAC recommendations.”
Before any funding is awarded, the bill must first go to the Senate floor; a vote has not yet been scheduled.
