Defense Bill Brings Military Investment, Support to Alaska

Statement

Sen. Begich also helps eliminate wasteful DOD spending

Alaska's military members and operations around the state are receiving support and investment as a result of work by U.S. Sen. Mark Begich on the Senate Armed Services Committee this week.

The committee completed its work on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 National Defense Authorization Act after two days of mark-ups on the budget for the Department of Defense, which includes a 1.6 percent pay raise for the military and facility investments totaling nearly $400 million at Alaska bases.

The total funding for the Department of Defense for FY 2012 in the bill reported by the committee is $6 billion less than the President's budget request of $688.9 billion at $682.5 billion. The committee found savings while still providing for military readiness.

Additionally, Sen. Begich helped lead the effort with Sen. John McCain to eliminate $804 million for an over-budget, and behind-schedule air defense research and development program called the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). The U.S. military has no intention of purchasing the program which has been unable to meet schedule costs and targets for over two decades.

"As we continue to invest and expand meaningful and productive military systems and projects, we must also be mindful of wasteful spending and not continue to invest in projects like MEADS that are really just a drain on taxpayers," Begich said. "While we focus on giving our military the resources and compensation necessary to meet our global commitments, continued funding of programs that will never deliver tangible benefits to our troops, like MEADS, is unacceptable."

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