Kratovil Backs Defense Bill to Fund Troops

Defense Bill Will Also Create Jobs in First District

Washington, DC – Rep. Frank Kratovil joined a bi-partisan majority of his colleagues in passing the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill, which will fund equipment acquisition, training, and ongoing military operations, while providing for a 3.4% pay raise for our troops. The spending bill will also fund a number of acquisition projects from local defense contractors, supporting jobs in Maryland’s First District.

“Providing for the common defense is Congress’ foremost constitutional duty, and so I’m proud to support this legislation ensuring that our troops have the equipment, training, and weapons they need to carry out their mission,” said Rep. Frank Kratovil. “This bill keeps our commitment to the men, women and families of the United States Armed Forces. When times are tough, we need to make hard decisions about how and where to spend our limited resources, but we should never fail to deliver the funding that protects those who protect us.”

The bill will provide a 3.4% pay raise for our military, and continue the “stop-loss payment” of $500 a month for any service-member whose period of enlistment is involuntarily extended beyond the member’s commitment. It will invest more than $29 billion in the Defense Health Program and boost funding to support our military families with programs like child care, job training for spouses, and expanded counseling services. It contains an increase in funding for training and readiness to ensure that troops in the field are fully prepared to handle the challenges they will face by providing them with the equipment they need to fight the wars of today and tomorrow. The bill also represents a commitment to fiscal responsibility - reigning in outsourcing so that defense personnel, not contractors, perform critical department functions; increasing the number of Do DIG investigators; and restoring much needed discipline to the contracting process for high cost Aircraft.

Also included in the bill is $19 million in funding secured by Rep. Kratovil for projects that will create local jobs while meeting important defense needs. This includes a $5 million appropriation to purchase state-of-the-art Special Forces combat gloves manufactured in Elkton, and $1.6 million to accelerate the design, development, and deployment of submarine detection technology being built by a firm in Millersville.