FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 26, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Sadosky
Sen. Hutchison: Quality of Life Must Be a Priority In Providing for Military Families at Fort Bliss
Outlines Continued Efforts to Expand the Role and Value of Fort Bliss
WASHINGTON, DC - At a new child care development center on Fort Bliss Army Base, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today held a press conference to discuss efforts to improve quality of life and health care for military families in El Paso. She also discussed her work to expand and bolster the local economy in order to make El Paso a more welcoming place for soldiers and their families.
“Quality of life issues for our soldiers and their families must be a priority. We must ensure that our soldiers and their families have the child development centers, clinics, and high quality schools they need,” Sen. Hutchison said. “When our soldiers are putting their lives at risk overseas, they must know that their families are being taken care of back home at Fort Bliss. I have worked tirelessly to ensure that Fort Bliss receives important and necessary resources such as this child development center.”
The child development center, where the press conference was held, is a project that Sen. Hutchison has worked hard to make possible. Since FY2007, Fort Bliss has built four child development centers and four more are in the works. In the War Supplemental, which the Senate passed on May 21, Sen. Hutchison helped secure $27.5 million for the child development center at Fort Bliss.
Additionally, Sen. Hutchison has worked to secure over $52 million for the planning and design of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
More broadly, with a projected increase of more than 20,000 active duty soldiers and military personnel at Fort Bliss, Sen. Hutchison has secured more than $2.56 billion in military construction funding for the base since FY 2003, including $1.3 billion to implement the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations. Funding has supported construction and expansion of numerous projects, including barracks, vehicle maintenance shops, the Caffee and Robert E. Lee gates, and company operations facilities.
Sen. Hutchison said, “Ultimately, Fort Bliss is a key strategic asset for our future national defense. We must continue our efforts to expand this critically important military installation and the BRAC-mandated move of Army brigades from Europe to Fort Bliss.”
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