Arizona’s slice of defense
Spending bill reflects Arizonans’ priorities
The $738 billion defense bill poised for approval by the Senate reflects the priorities of Arizona lawmakers on issues including sexual assault and veteran suicide. Left out, however, was a way to address the $30 million swept from Fort Huachuca.
Priorities of Arizona lawmakers on issues ranging from sexual assault to veteran suicide were included in the sweeping $738 billion defense spending bill approved by the Senate Tuesday.
Left out, however, was a way to address the $30 million swept from Fort Huachuca in favor of President Donald Trump’s border wall earlier this year.
The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the result of lengthy negotiations by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate, will soon be signed by Trump.
The Pentagon spending deal keeps defense spending in Arizona at about the same level as when the late Sen. John McCain was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The spending agreement gives 12 weeks of paid family leave to all federal civilian employees, increases pay for troops, creates the “Space Force” within the Air Force, reforms military housing, and authorizes an extra $1 billion for a dozen F-35A aircraft, among hundreds of other items.
The bill also contains provisions pushed for by Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., and Rep. Ruben Gallego, DAriz. — both members of Congress’ Armed Services committees — and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. McSally and Gallego were on the conference committee that helped settle differences between their chambers on the bill.
The defense bill increases defense spending by about 3%, or about $20 billion year-to-year.
Some of it benefits Arizona, including the authorization of funding for the A-10 Warthog and a wing-replacement program, modernization projects for F-35 training and the Barry M. Goldwater Range, upgrades to a hanger and barracks at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.
Arizona does ‘above average’
“Overall, we did above average,” Gallego told The Arizona Republic of how Arizona fared in the process. “The loser of this all was not being able to restore the money from Fort Huachuca.”
The Pentagon scratched the Army installation’s plan for a ground transportation project earlier this year to make good on Trump’s signature campaign promise of building a wall along the Mexican border.
Arizona lawmakers want the funding restored.
“By a vote of 86-8, the Senate voted in a landslide bipartisan way to fund affected military construction projects in this year’s defense bill,” McSally said in a prepared statement Monday.
But it appears the money won’t be
part of the regular appropriations process, either. McSally blamed that on partisan politics.
“Now, Democrats are refusing to fully fund these military construction projects due to political games around border security. Shame on them.”
She said the construction site had environmental issues that would have stalled the project, apart from any partisan bickering over the border wall.
“The Secretary of the Army has assured me that this project will be in the budget for FY21 (starting in 9.5 months) following the completion of the environmental cleanup.”
On the Democratic side, the defense package codifies a portion of a bill introduced by Gallego earlier in the year involving the country’s membership in NATO.
The “Sense of the Congress” language in the spending package affirms congressional support for the military alliance and prevents funds from being used to “suspend, terminate, or provide notice of denunciation” for that membership.
Bill addresses sexual misconduct
The defense package also includes nearly all the provisions McSally proposed earlier this year with the goal of improving how military officers investigate and prosecute sexual misconduct allegations.
The policy proposals came together with the help of a task force assembled by the Pentagon, shortly after McSally revealed her own story of rape by a military officer during her time in the Air Force.
One provision would increase the number of personnel dedicated to investigating sexual assault cases; another would make sure victims have access to special victim counsel within 72 hours of reporting an assault.
“The legislation also takes a historic step towards combating military sexual assault by including 17 of my 18 provisions to improve timeliness and effectiveness of investigations and support to victims,” McSally said in a statement.
The bill includes legislation sponsored by Sinema that codifies best practices for referring military sexual assault to courts martial, widens eligibility for services to certain victims of domestic violence, and allows for the correction of military records for former military members who were survivors of sexual trauma.
Language from a Sinema bill aimed at reducing military suicides also made it in. The language requires the Defense Department and the Red Cross to collect the names of loved ones from new service members.
The Pentagon and Red Cross would provide them with information about benefits and services available to military members to ensure they know whom to contact if needed.
“Our service members put their lives on the line to keep Arizona safe and secure, and I am committed to providing them the support and resources they need,” Sinema said in a statement.