A key House panel recommends
$203 million be spent in Hawaii

By Pete Pichaske
Star-Bulletin

WASHINGTON -- A key House committee yesterday approved spending a record $203 million on military construction in Hawaii, including $62 million to continue extensive housing improvements at Schofield Barracks.

In setting defense spending levels for next year, the House National Security Committee also set aside $20 million for the Army to buy 8,200 acres for a training area in northern Oahu's Koolau Mountains.

Although already used for military training, the property is now owned by the Campbell Estate, and Army leaders in Hawaii are anxious to acquire it for their own.

While Hawaii's military construction spending would rise next year under the committee's blueprint from $173 million to $203 million, spending nationwide would drop from $9.2 billion to $8.2 billion.

The panel did, however, increase President Clinton's proposed spending, which they dismissed as woefully inadequate, by $400 million.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Honolulu, a member of the National Security Committee, said the added spending not only will boost Hawaii's economy, but could help insulate Hawaii's bases from future military downsizing.

Hawaii has been spared significant cuts in the rounds of base closures so far, largely because of its strategic location in the growingly important Pacific theater.

But Defense Secretary William Cohen is pushing for two more rounds in the next half-dozen years, and lawmakers and local officials are nervous again.

"We can't just depend on geography," said Abercrombie. "We need a very solid foundation for keeping our bases open."

Congress has resisted approving more rounds of base closures, arguing that the impact of the most recent closures must still be assessed.

Although the full House still has to vote on the military construction money, as does the Senate, the Hawaii spending is unlikely to be cut.

Last year, the House committee approved $154 million in military construction spending in the islands.

But by the time the proposal had passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee, where the senior Democrat is U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, that figure had reached $173 million.

The full House is expected to vote on the defense authorization bill the week after next.

Military housing projects

Here are the main military housing projects proposed for Hawaii:

$47.5 million: Continuing barracks renewal at Schofield Barracks.
$29.1 million: 150 family housing units for the Navy on Oahu.
$27.4 million: Bachelor enlisted quarters at Kaneohe Marine Base.
$14.7 million: 64 family housing units at Schofield Barracks.
$8 million: Modernize bachelor enlisted quarters at Pearl Harbor Submarine Base.