Shelby drives defense bill to Senate passage, includes critical funding for Alabama

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Defense, announced Tuesday final Senate passage of the legislative package that will cover defense funding for Fiscal Year 2019, which begins October 1.

The defense appropriations act was passed in a “minibus” package (that still needs to pass the House) also containing the coming fiscal year’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill. Both the defense appropriations act and the additional appropriations bill include critical funding for the state of Alabama.

This comes the week after Shelby was profusely praised for leading the charge on final passage of a bill which funded Veterans Affairs, military construction, nuclear security and energy and water infrastructure. Alabama’s senior senator is streamlining the appropriations process in a historic way, getting Congress back to regular order.

“This is the most significant step we have taken yet,” Shelby said in a statement. “For the first time in a decade, we are sending a Defense spending bill to the President’s desk on time.”

Shelby continued, “Returning to regular order has required us all to sacrifice and work together for the good of the process. I want to thank my colleagues – particularly Leaders McConnell and Schumer and Vice Chairman Leahy – for their help in moving the Defense-Labor-HHS conference report before the Senate.”

This appropriations package – which is expected to be passed by the House next week – represents crucial funding for national needs.

“This conference report contains critical funding for defense and domestic priorities. It accelerates the rebuilding of America’s military and provides our men and women in uniform with the largest pay increase in nearly a decade. It also increases NIH’s budget by $2 billion and provides critical resources to combat the opioid epidemic,” Shelby explained.

Under Shelby’s leadership, the Senate has been functioning in a starkly bipartisan manner when it comes to appropriations. This “minibus” funding package was approved in the Senate by a vote of 93 – 7.  Defense and Labor-HHS-Education bills represent the majority of discretionary federal spending, yet neither has been signed into law before the end of the fiscal year in a decade.

When this latest package has passed the House and been signed by the President, 75 percent of all appropriations funding will have been passed under regular order for Fiscal Year 2019.

Shelby’s package ensures America’s military leaders have the necessary resources to meet current and future threats to U.S. national security, and the Department of Defense portion of the package contains critical funding for defense priorities throughout the state of Alabama.

“We must approve defense appropriations legislation to fund military readiness, procurement, and testing — all of which are required to keep U.S. military forces the best trained, equipped, prepared, and strongest force in the world,” Shelby emphasized.

“This historic legislation further highlights Alabama’s strong national defense capabilities and provides our state with the opportunity to continue producing essential tools to support our men and women in uniform. I am confident that this legislation will allow our defense programs to remain of the highest caliber,” Shelby concluded.

The defense legislation includes the following provisions impacting the Yellowhammer State:

The following provisions impact the production and use of missiles and helicopters in the Wiregrass region:

• An additional $95 million for Future Vertical Lift research, which will help accelerate development of helicopters flown at Fort Rucker.
• $10 million to upgrade Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.
• $1.0 billion for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles.
• $111 million for Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs). The measure also encourages the Navy to evaluate the capabilities and costs of a surface-launched LRASM.
• $307 million for Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles (JAGMs).
• $663 million for Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSMs), which recently made its debut in strikes on Syria in response to their use of chemical weapons.
• $484 million for Hellfire missiles, which are made in Troy and used for training at Fort Rucker.
• $254 million for Javelin missiles for the Army and Marine Corps.

The following provisions impact North Alabama:

• Army Research – $11.1 billion for investments in transformational technologies to address modern and future Army warfighting needs.
• Missile Defense – $10.4 billion for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), including $1.1 billion to support urgent MDA unfunded priorities and emergent threats. The measure included $191 million for Standard Missile Improvements, which are built in Decatur, and supports work done by MDA at Redstone Arsenal and many local companies.
• Directed Energy – $184 million in additional funding to further develop directed energy technology and transition these activities to both offensive and defensive capabilities.
• Hypersonics – $664 million in additional funding to support and accelerate offensive and defensive hypersonics research and prototyping efforts.
• Cyber – $306 million in additional funding to expand and accelerate cyber research across the Department of Defense, including $127 million for Army cybersecurity research efforts and $116 million in Missile Defense Agency cybersecurity enhancements. The bill encourages the enhanced use of cyber red teams to address cyber intrusions that threaten our weapons systems, an area of particular excellence for Huntsville.
• Space – $200 million in additional funding for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) development efforts to ensure assured access to space. United Launch Alliance (ULA), which builds rockets in Decatur, continues to be seen as the most reliable and capable space launch provider.
• Advanced Shipbuilding Capabilities – $15 million to establish North Alabama as a center for classified, high power large-scale electron beam welding. This technology is critical to new Navy Columbia-class submarines and many high-performance aerospace systems such as hypersonic reentry vehicles, scramjet missiles, and rocket and jet engine turbomachinery.
• Small Glide Munitions – An additional $15 million to integrate Small Glide Munitions onto on Unmanned Aerial Systems. This highly successful weapon is used by Special Operations Command and built in Huntsville.

The following provisions impact Anniston:

• $276 million for Hydra rockets, which are built in Anniston and fired from Army and Marine Corps helicopters.
• Funding for Army Vehicles which are overhauled and maintained at Anniston Army Depot (ANAD).
• $2.5 billion to continue modernizing M1 Abrams tanks.
• $393 million for Stryker vehicles, including an additional $94 million to support increased Stryker DVH A1 conversions.
• An additional $110 million for Paladin Integrated Management artillery vehicles.
• $18 million in additional funding for M88A2 Hercules Improved Recovery vehicles.

The following provisions impact Mobile’s shipbuilding industry:

• Two additional Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).
• One additional Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) ship.
• An additional $700 million in Advance Procurement for LPD and LHA amphibious ships.

The final Defense & Labor-HHS-Edu funding bills have been advanced by the Senate! In returning to regular order, we’ve worked together for the good of the process. Thank you to @SenateMajLdr, @SenSchumer, @SenatorLeahy & all of my other colleagues for their help. #appropriations pic.twitter.com/aO35g8vl1R

— Richard Shelby (@SenShelby) September 18, 2018

The Labor-HHS part of the package includes the following provisions impacting Alabama:

• $39.084 billion, a $2 billion increase, for the National Institutes of Health.
• Opioid Funding – $3.8 billion, an increase of $206 million above FY2018. This level includes $1.5 billion for the State Opioid Response grant in SAMHSA, replacing the sun-setting 21st Century CURES funds, and maintains 15 percent set-aside to the most impacted states and $50 million for Tribes. Additional funding includes: $65 million increase for Community Health Center opioid efforts; $50 million increase for Behavioral Health Clinics; and $500 million to continue NIH research related to opioids and pain management. In addition, NIH will spend $774 million, a $58 million increase.
• $440 million for the Charter Schools Program, an increase of $40 million.
• $325 million for the Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education Program, an increase of $10 million. The President’s Budget proposed to eliminate this program.
• $20 million for HRSA’s Delta States Rural Development Network Grant program, an increase of $6 million. This level includes $8 million, an increase of $4 million, to help small rural hospitals improve financial and operational performance.
• $317.79 million for HRSA’s Rural Health programs, an increase of $27 million.
• $6.14 billion included for NIH’s National Cancer Institute, an increase of $186.9 million.
• $22.8 million for poison control centers, an increase of $2 million.
• $7.5 million for CDC Lupus Patient Registry, an increase of $1 million.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn