Military Construction Act contains record amount for Guard projects

National Guard, Dec 2001

The fiscal 2002 Military Construction Act signed by President Bush Nov. 5. contains $658 million for National Guard projects around the country.

The figure is a record amount and a more than 15-fold increase over the president's request just two years ago. However, even with the bolstered funding, the Guard still has a backlog of required construction of more than $5 billion.

"The military construction funding increase is reward for a lot of hard work by the NGAUS membership, the adjutant generals and the National Guard Bureau," said retired Col. Bill Goss, NGAUS legislative director. "Military construction has been one of our top priorities the last two years. We have taken every opportunity to communicate our critical needs to the administration and to the Congress."

Goss said the president's military construction requests for the Guard have increased dramatically over the last two years while Congress has continued to add money.

"We're making progress," Goss said, "but there is obviously sill more work to be done."

The Military Construction Appropriations Act of 2002 contains $10.5 billion for all Defense Department programs. The Guard will receive nearly 70 percent of the funds ear-- marked for the entire reserve component.

The Army Guard will receive $405 million in 2002 for construction projects in 27 states and territories. They include efforts in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The Air National Guard will get $253 million. This will fund projects in Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.