Stimulus provides for military; not as much as hoped

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Stimulus provides for military; not as much as hoped
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, February 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — The $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law Tuesday includes billions in funding for Department of Defense projects, but not quite as much as some military officials had hoped.

Department of Defense officials had submitted ideas for billions in construction and repair projects to Congress last month at lawmakers’ request for potential job-creating projects to be included in the stimulus package.

But House and Senate negotiators cut more than $2 billion in housing construction and $2.3 billion in new military medical facilities initially favored by lawmakers as part of the final compromise, which passed Congress last week.

In a single decision the Army saw $600 million in new recruit barracks projects erased at the negotiating table.

Another $300 million for base closure work was dropped as well.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60819