***VIDEO: Senator Murray speaks in support of legislation on Senate Floor**
Senator Murray: “These resources are critical to providing high-quality health care to our veterans and ensuring we have world-class military infrastructure to support our servicemembers.”
Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it: last week, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured Senate passage of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA) funding bill for fiscal year 2024 that Senator Murray authored as Chair of the MilCon-VA Subcommittee. The legislation was part of a “minibus” package that passed the Senate in an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 82-15; the package also included the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (Ag-FDA), and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) funding bills for Fiscal Year 2024. All three bills passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously this summer.
The MilCon-VA bill provides more than $582 million for specific Washington state veterans and military construction projects across the state, which does not include funding for national programs that will later be allocated on a competitive or formula-specific basis.
“The military construction and VA funding bill we passed through the Senate last week with overwhelming bipartisan support includes major investments that will benefit Washington state veterans and servicemembers—from improving living conditions at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and electrifying the shipyard at Naval Base Kitsap to upgrading VA medical centers and increasing funding for military family housing,” said Senator Murray. “The bottom line is: these resources are critical to providing high-quality health care to our veterans and ensuring we have world-class military infrastructure to support our servicemembers, and this legislation moves the ball forward in important ways even under tough funding constraints. I will be working hard to get this legislation—and the rest of our serious, bipartisan appropriations bills here in the Senate—signed into law.”
The MilCon-VA appropriations bill provides $297 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and related agencies to fulfill our nation’s obligations to our veterans. The legislation also includes $19.1 billion in defense spending for military construction and family housing this year—an increase of $70 million over fiscal year 2023—to upgrade and modernize critical infrastructure and support military families.
The legislation passed by the Senate fully funds key projects in Washington state, notably funding every single project included in President Biden’s FY24 budget request:
- $100 million for barracks at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
- $195 million for Shipyard Electrical Backbone at Naval Base Kitsap/Puget Sound Shipyard.
- $62 million for SOF Consolidated Parachute Rigging Facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
- $71 million for Bulk Storage Tanks, Phase 2 at Defense Fuel Supply Point Manchester.
- $45 million for the American Lake VAMC renovation costs.
- $78 million for Phase 3 of the Tahoma National Cemetery gravesite development.
Murray also secured $31.06 million in Congressionally Directed Spending requests for five projects in Washington state. Only military construction projects are eligible for Congressionally Directed Spending requests in the MilCon-VA bill. Murray secured:
- $7.5 million for vehicle maintenance shop at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
- $3.6 million for the National Guard/Reserve Center Building at Camp Murray.
- $11.1 million for the E/A-18G Aircraft Regional Service Facility at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
- $7.9 million for barracks at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
- $960,000 for an Automated Infantry Platoon Battle Course at the Yakima Training Center.
Key national priorities of Senator Murray’s in the legislation include funding for veterans’ rural health care, which will also help expand telehealth; increased funding to fully implement the VA Caregivers program that Senator Murray helped launch and fought to expand; increased funding for women veterans’ health care, a longtime priority of Senator Murray’s; increased funding for veterans’ homelessness prevention; increased funding for veterans’ mental health, specifically to expand suicide prevention outreach; and increased funding to expand the national child care pilot program at VA that Senator Murray launched.
Video of Senator Murray speaking on the Senate floor about the MilCon-VA bill is HERE.
A full summary of the MilCon-VA bill is available HERE.
Congressionally Directed Spending projects included in the bill are available HERE.
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