More than $96.6 million worth of Fort Bragg projects in federal budget

Dec. 28--Fort Bragg will see more than $96.6 million worth of construction projects after President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act in late December, the installation's members of Congress said.

The fiscal 2020 budget for defense is $738 billion, an increase of $22 billion compared with the current fiscal year budget.

There were concerns earlier in the year about whether Fort Bragg's projects would be cut to support Trump's emergency declaration to use Department of Defense military construction funds for a barrier at the southern border. But Republican Rep. Richard Hudson and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, whose districts include Fort Bragg, said the projects will move forward.

The projects included in the act are: a $12.5 million dining facility, a more than $12.1 million special operations forces assessment and selection training complex, a $43 million special operations forces platform-force generation facility, and a $29 million special operations forces operations support building.

Hudson said the Butner Elementary reconstruction project was removed from a list of Fort Bragg projects "because it was determined that it wasn't needed" prior to deliberations of this year's budget.

Officials said the project -- which was originally included in a recommended fiscal 2016 budget -- was canceled.

The old Butner Primary School closed in 2016 and was replaced by Hampton Primary School, Department of Defense Education Activity officials previously said.

In a Dec. 17 news release, Cal Cunningham, one of the Democratic candidates who hopes to challenge Tillis in 2020, pointed out military projects at other installations in the state that face funding cuts.

Cunningham said Tillis' voted to support $80 million of cuts "sold off any ounce of independence."

The Cunningham campaign has pointed to a February opinion editorial Tillis wrote for the Washington Post originally saying he would not support an emergency declaration that used military construction funds.

"Then, he promised those families the money would come, but we know now it won't," said Cunningham, an Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day of the Senate vote of the National Defense Authorization Act, Tillis told The Fayetteville Observer that three projects are affected between Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Camp Lejeune. But he said he was assured by officials that the projects would be "backfilled," or put back at a later time.

"None of the projects were threatened based on the funding at the time of the executive order," Tillis said, adding that military officials assured him any delays to funding would not threaten the projects.

Tillis said $2.2 billion worth of funding has been secured for North Carolina military installations, including more than $554.18 million worth of prioritized construction projects and another $1.1 billion for Hurricane Florence repairs and recovery.

"I think the president's going to have the funding that the administration thinks they need to continue to make progress on border security, and there's no decisions in (the National Defense Authorization Act) that ... diverts military construction for that purpose."

Tillis and Hudson said another accomplishment in the act is a 3.1% pay raise for service members.

In a joint statement with North Carolina's other senator, Republican Richard Burr, Burr and Tillis highlighted :

--$8.9 billion for implementation of the Veterans Affairs Mission Act;

--A $3.8 billion increase to combat opioid addiction;

--$43 million in additional funding to help address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Hudson said it:

--Includes language that allows service members' cases of medical malpractice in military facilities to be reviewed by the secretary of defense. Hudson consponsored a bill on behalf of a Fort Bragg soldier who claimed his cancer was misdiagnosed. Current law does not allow military service members to sue the federal government.

--Allows all Department of Defense employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid family leave.

--Allows wounded soldiers to receive a pay allowance during a portion of their rehabilitation from wounds, injuries and illnesses they incurred in a combat operation or combat zone.

"That's an issue that came up because some of our Special Forces Green Berets were wounded in combat, and we've made a push over the last few years where we've tried to get folks back into their units to finish their recovery as soon as possible," Hudson said.

Previously, the soldiers would recover with the Wounded Warrior Battalion or at an inpatient facility like Water Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Hudson said officials learned that soldiers recovering with their units had their supplemental pay cut because they were no longer with the Wounded Warrior Battalion.

--The act also addresses prohibiting firefighters from using a foam that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) after Oct. 1, 2024, and authorizes the National Guard to access Defense Environmental Remediation Account funds to address polyfluoroalkyl substances exposure and contamination in or around National Guard installations.

--Provides $40 million worth of impact aid to schools with military children and a $10 million increase in impact funding for schools with military children with special needs.

"The bottom line is every day I wake up thinking what can I do to improve the lives of our military and their families and our veterans and that's why I was so pleased that we were able to deliver this Defense Authorization with so many wins for our community," Hudson said.

Tillis described it as "family friendly."

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

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