Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction / Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill

Press Release

Committee Approves Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction / Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced committee approval of the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Included in this legislation is funding for projects in Alabama listed below. Following today's action by the committee, the bill will now go to the Senate floor for consideration.

Military Construction

• $12 million for Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) Explosive Ordinance Exploitation (EOE) Complex at Redstone Arsenal

"MSIC is critically important to national security through the collection of information on foreign missile threats and the evaluation of foreign missile systems," said Shelby. "This facility will provide a safe, efficient, and modern EOE complex to meet the specialized needs of the Foreign Military Exploitation team's missile disassembly, research, and testing operations."

The MSIC EOE complex consists of seven stand alone facilities and two open storage facilities to support hazardous and non-hazardous operations and materiels. The explosive operations building, used for missile disassembly, has four work bays and explosion proof infrastructure. The open storage areas will allow for outside explosive storage of oversized foreign materiel with minimal hazards. Other buildings are for workspace, a conference room, and a communications processing center.

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)

• $27.8 million for the Von Braun Complex Phase 3, Increment III at Redstone Arsenal

Von Braun III will accommodate 2,649 positions and will be the largest single building at Redstone Arsenal. Upon completion, it will be an 840,000 square foot facility housing 2,248 Missile Defense Agency positions realigned from Washington, D.C. as part of BRAC, as well as 240 Huntsville Missile Defense Agency positions and 161 Army Space and Missile Defense Command positions.

"The BRAC recommendations are bringing large numbers of highly skilled workers to North Alabama," said Shelby. "It is extremely important that this building be constructed by spring of 2010 to allow the first 800-1,000 workers to move to Redstone on schedule."

The following programs were funded throughout the state of Alabama to support our nation's reservists:

• $8 million for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Anniston (Pelham Range)
• $10 million for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Birmingham
• $20.43 million for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Mobile
• $18 million for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Tuscaloosa

"Our nation's reservists play an incredibly important role in support of our ongoing military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the globe," said Shelby. "We must continue to do all we can to support these men and women in their training in order to ensure we always have the best equipped, most capable fighting force in the world. Funding for these reserve centers will greatly benefit our warfighters and our nation."

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