The Senate approved Tuesday spending $44 million to help Hill Air Force Base prepare to receive new missions from other bases that are closing.
The money was included in the annual military construction appropriations bill, the final version of which was approved by the Senate on an 87-3 vote and sent to President Clinton.Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said funding for Hill includes:
- $31 million for a new facility to accommodate transfer of the Air Force's Deployable Medical Systems, or mobile hospital units, from Defense Depot Ogden.
- $2.1 million for a new gas turbine engine test facility to house test work being transferred from Kelly Air Force Base, Texas.
- $5.3 million for remodeling of facilities to accommodate the product management/composites workload being transferred from McClellan Air Force Base, Calif.
- $1.1 million for a facility to house the FPS 117 radar and associated operations and training, which is also being transferred from McClellan.
- $2.6 million for a War Readiness Asset Warehouse, which will free up other storage space on the base to accommodate additional incoming workload.
- $1.9 million for the 419th Air Force Reserve Fighter Wing at Hill to construct a munitions handling and storage facility.
Bennett said, "This funding is an important investment in the future of Hill Air Force Base."
Additionally, the bill includes $5 million to replace Army Reserve facilities at Fort Douglas to allow construction of the 2002 Olympic Village there.
That follows a large squabble last year when Clinton used his line-item veto on that move in a defense bill, which was later overridden by Congress. In the meantime, Clinton - while never admitting he made a mistake - arranged removal of reserve facilities through administrative action anyway.