The Republican Defense Hawk effort is the largest and most detailed defense funding proposal to date in an infrastructure bill.
Most of the funding would go to the infrastructure of the naval and coastal shipyards, an effort members of both parties had been considering for months prior to the current debate. However, the proposal also aims to increase funding for military construction projects, depot upgrades, test areas, national security labs, and the installation of 5G technology.
The Shelby and Inhofe offices did not immediately comment on the effort.
Shipyards: Half of the funds in the amendment, just under $ 25.4 billion, would be used for upgrades and repairs at Navy and Coast Guard shipyards. Similar proposals have received bipartisan support, particularly from lawmakers in states with shipyards. The Navy has put in place a decade-long plan to modernize its public shipyards to support new ships and a larger fleet.
Of that total, $ 21 billion would be used for improvement projects at the Navy’s four public shipyards, reflecting the Navy’s plan.
Another 4 billion dollars will flow into private shipyards, which will be split evenly between new construction projects and repairs.
The Coast Guard would receive $ 350 million for their shipyard improvement needs.
Other Funding: The change would distribute the remainder of the funding to meet a wide range of military infrastructure needs.
It would allocate $ 4 billion to the military and the Pentagon to help reduce the backlog on facility infrastructure maintenance projects. Another $ 2 billion would be used on high priority military construction projects.
The proposal would allocate $ 4.5 billion to modernize depots and $ 2.5 to upgrade ammunition factories.
The Senators also provided $ 4 billion to upgrade military testing and training areas.
An additional $ 2.5 billion would fund efforts to install 5G wireless networking technology at Department of Defense facilities.
An additional $ 1.5 billion would be used in efforts to remediate PFAS chemicals in military facilities.
Outside the Pentagon, the proposal allocates just over $ 3.8 billion to the Department of Energy for construction projects related to the National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Savannah River Nuclear Facility, and other related projects.
State of play: The Senate is working this week on changes to the bipartisan bill that would provide $ 550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, climate resistance and broadband technology. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could soon try to break off the debate on the bill, which could extend to the weekend or early next week.
Raising $ 50 billion in emergency defense spending, bringing the portion of the bill dedicated to new spending to more than $ 600 billion, would mean a significant shift in the price and focus of the bill Carefully negotiated by a bipartisan legislature group of senators.
Republicans could advocate increasing spending on defense facilities, where there is broad consensus that funding has lagged. And while some Democrats have advocated specific efforts – such as funding for the overhaul of shipyards or defense industrial facilities such as depots and arsenals – others have opposed using an infrastructure bill as a backdoor to increase defense spending.
Previous Defense Fund Calls: The Shelby, Inhofe and Wicker amendment is the most expensive attempt to include defense funding in an infrastructure contract yet, if not the first.
Democrats and Republicans, led by Wicker in the Senate and MP Rob Wittman (R-Va.) In the House of Representatives, have been pushing for months to include shipyard financing in an infrastructure deal.
The bipartisan House Military Depot, Arsenal, Ammunition Plant and Industrial Facilities Caucus, led by Illinois Democrat Cheri Bustos and Utah Republican Blake Moore, has also pushed for a wider range of funding for defense industrial facility improvement, including shipyards, depots and arsenals and ranges.
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