*President’s budget contains nearly $398 Million for weapons disposal*
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was successful in convincing the Department of Defense to increase the President’s annual budget request for disposal of chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky.
Last December, Senator McConnell wrote Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urging him to add funding to the President’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget for cleanup at the facility. In January, Secretary Gates responded to McConnell in writing telling him that he agreed with his request and added nearly $50 million in funding to the President’s budget for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA) program.
Prior to this announcement, the funding for the ACWA program had been set at $351 million – the budget now stands at nearly $398 million. This marks the third consecutive year Senator McConnell persuaded DOD to increase the President’s budget for ACWA before it was submitted to Congress.
“I am pleased that Secretary Gates agreed with me about the importance of increasing funding for chemical weapons disposal,” McConnell said. “His decision to provide nearly $50 million more in his budget request for the ACWA program will help ensure that the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot are not only disposed of safely but also more quickly.”
“This is only the first step in the FY ’09 budget process,” McConnell added. “But as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will fight to secure these additional resources in the final bill.”
Also included in the letter, Secretary Gates discussed the implementation of the 2017 deadline for disposal of the chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot, which Senator McConnell got enacted into law last year.
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