Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. BACON. Madam Chair, I appreciate the bipartisan work here to support our bases that need to be rebuilt.

I urge the support of this amendment to increase the Air Force O&M budget in the Disaster Aid Package to a total of $670 million for recovery of the military bases that sustained extensive damage by the recent storms.

In March, my district in my home State of Nebraska experienced devastating floods where lives were lost and the scale of the destruction made it the worst natural disaster in our 152-year history as a State.

The damage to Nebraska's infrastructure, agriculture, and local economy is extensive and includes Offutt Air Force Base, one of the two largest employers in our area.

At the height of the storm, one-third of the base was under water, 3,000 people were displaced from their work centers, and 1.2 million square feet of mission space was lost. The flight line was inoperable, with a third of the runway under water. Many structures incurred significant damages, and critical systems were destroyed.

Our Nation owes a debt of gratitude to those men and women at Offutt that worked relentlessly to save what they could. The mission impact and cost to the taxpayers would have been worse without their heroic efforts.

So I am very grateful for the bipartisan leadership here and the teamwork by Representatives Cunningham, Fortenberry, Dunn, and so many others to make this a reality.

You know, Offutt is one of the two primary intelligence surveillance reconnaissance hubs in our country, and it is the home of StratComm, so it is vital that we get this done.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and we need to support this amendment.

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