Guam News - Guam News

Washington D.C. - Two key Guam build-up related projects have made a ‘comeback’ after failing to win approval last year and they are now included in a proposed stop-gap spending bill Republicans plan to put on the U.S. House floor this week. 

The stop-gap bill’s future in the Democrat-controlled Senate is still unknown, but the sequester-reduced House GOP version of a continuing budget resolution or “C-R” includes funding for two key Guam projects.

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$106-million dollars would be spent for the water and wastewater treatment plant upgrades and $13-million for a regional public health laboratory, both nixed by the Senate last year in negotiations for the FY ’13 National Defense Authorization Act.

Congresswoman Madeleine Dordallo’s office says the C-R includes both the spending authority and the dollars for the projects.

The public health lab is part of a biosecurity plan, aimed largely at dealing with the build-up of military forces on Guam and the possible outbreak of flu and other diseases.

Funding for the water and wastewater treatment plant upgrades is also necessitated by the build-up and is expected to be the first of several funding increments.

And the C-R includes an NDAA-approved nearly $102-million dollar upgrade of the fuel pipeline from Andersen to Naval Base Guam, an army National Guard Headquarters, worth $8.5 million and funds for Marine Corps Aviation units at Andersen.

Meantime, Bordallo’s office says the Congresswoman still thinks across-the-board budget cuts under sequestration is, quoting, “dumb,” using the description first coined by President Obama.

Bordallo argues in the long-term, spending will increase for military readiness and ‘sustainment.’

And House Republicans, opposed to major defense cuts and sensitive to political blame for the sequester, propose adding back $10.4 billion to Pentagon operations and maintenance but offset that with cuts elsewhere in defense, providing no net new dollars, just more flexibility.
commanders fear that the sequester will take a toll on force readiness in the Pacific and elsewhere, by curtailing training and suspending some repairs.

Military-dependent economies like that in Guam, could also suffer.