{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3670", "Case Opposes Proposed Funding Bill That Shortchanges Critical Military Infrastructure Needs In Hawaii, The Indo-Pacific and NATO", "2025-06-11", "2025", "2025-06", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Ed Case", "C001055", "case.house.gov", "case", "https://case.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27&Page=5", "scraper", "(Washington, DC) \u2013 U.S. Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, early this morning voted against the proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations funding measure.\n\nThe measure (MILCON-VA) would fund worldwide military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and various small agencies and programs supporting our nation\u2019s some 19 million veterans, including some 112,000 throughout Hawai\u2018i, and their families.\n\nThe bill is the first of twelve separate bills developed by the Appropriations Committee that would fund the federal government at some $1.6 trillion for FY 2026 commencing October 1st of this year.\n\n\u201cWhile the measure does have positive provisions including funding for essential veterans programs, I regrettably had to vote against it because it kicks critical military infrastructure projects down the road yet again, pursues the Project 2025 goal of privatizing VA medical care, shortchanges dedicated funding for Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cleanup, eliminates climate resiliency efforts and excludes important VA infrastructure funding,\u201d said Case, who is in his seventh year on Appropriations and previously served on the Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs for four years. He currently serves on its Subcommittees on Defense and Homeland Security.\n\nCase spoke to his Appropriations Committee colleagues on the serious deficiencies in the bill that fail to address critical military infrastructure needs throughout the Indo-Pacific (speech here). He stated that only one milcon project is located in the Indo-Pacific despite critical needs in meeting the challenge of the People\u2019s Republic of China. The bill also fails to provide funding for infrastructure in Europe to support U.S. servicemembers working to bolster NATO and deter Russia.\n\nCase further said that the funding measure specifically advances the privatization of veterans health care by proposing vastly larger increases for medical care provided in private sector compared to shorfunding the government\u2019s VA healthcare system, a key goal of the Project 2025 plan being followed by the Trump administration. By vast margins, veterans oppose privatizing the VA and want to receive their medical care at VA clinics and hospitals with a direct mission to care for veterans and their families as opposed to the private sector.\n\nDespite these and other significant problems with the bill, Case highlighted positive provisions he requested, including fully funding the budget request for veterans\u2019 medical care at $131.4 billion and for veterans\u2019 toxic exposures-related needs under the PACT Act.\n\nIt also includes $1.3 billion for specific care for women veterans, and supports the Office of Women\u2019s Health, including its childcare initiative. These funds will allow the VA to continue hiring women primary care providers and to increase the number of peer support specialists for women veterans. These efforts have become even more critical as the number of female veterans using VA health care services has increased.\n\n\u201cWomen veterans often require specialized care due to unique health needs stemming from their military service and gender,\u201d said Case. \u201cWith sustained support from my Committee over multiple years, Congress is working to ensure the VA set the standard for women veterans care, ensuring consistent, high-quality services across all facilities.\u201d\n\nThe measure also continues support as Case requested for the VA Center for Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and United States-affiliated Pacific Islander (NHPIUSAPI) Veterans. The center\u2019s doctors and scientists coordinate research from all over the Pacific Islands and the United States to specifically address veterans\u2019 healthcare in the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the Pacific. The center works with the University of Hawai\u2018i, and the bill encourages the VA to continue partnering with universities in the Pacific region focusing on issues unique to the NHPIUSAPI community.\n\nFurther details follow:\n\nVeterans-Related Programs\n\nThe bill provides $133.7 billion in discretionary spending for veterans-related programs, an increase of $4.7 billion above the FY 2025 enacted level\n\n\u201cOur Hawai\u2018i veterans and their families make up one of the largest percentages of any state in our nation including in such key areas like women and minority veterans. I continued to focus especially on the often unique challenges of delivering full veterans\u2019 health and other benefits in a diverse island state,\u201d said Case.\n\nSpecific veterans-related programs and provisions requested and secured by Case include:\n\n\u00b7 $12 million for the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program, which is $6 million above the FY 2025 level.\n\n\u00b7 Contracting preferences for Native Hawaiian owned business that work with the VA.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the VA to continue supporting the VA Center for NHPIUSAPI Veterans.\n\n\u00b7 $1.5 million for a pilot project using the most advanced technology to identify the remains of unidentified fallen servicemembers buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the VA to develop a plan for more fully providing VA benefits for veterans living in the Freely Associated States.\n\n\u00b7 $106 million for the American Battle Monument Commission, which manages the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.\n\n\u00b7 $60 million for the VA Grants for the Construction of Veterans Cemeteries Program, which regularly provides fundings to support Hawaii\u2019s state cemeteries.\n\n\u00b7 $233 million for substance-use disorder (SUD) efforts to ensure veterans can receive timely SUD specialty services.\n\n\u00b7 $3.4 billion for the Veterans\u2019 Homelessness Program Resources Account for our nation\u2019s veterans. This funding will enhance homeless veterans service providers ability to provide high demand care such as health services, substance use disorder programs, compensated work therapy and other supportive services.\n\n\u00b7 $342 million for Rural Health Initiatives, $5 million above FY 2025 level. This will improve access and quality of care for the more than 3 million enrolled veterans residing in highly rural areas.\n\nMilitary Construction\n\nThe bill provides $453.6 billion for Department of Defense (DoD) military construction and family housing, $480 million above the FY 2025 enacted level.\n\nSpecific military construction programs and provisions requested and secured by Case critical to Hawai\u2018i include:\n\n\u00b7 $634 million for the Energy Resiliency and Conservation Investment Program, which funds projects that save energy and water, reduce DoD energy costs and improve energy resilience.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to identify the Army\u2019s investment needs in order to support the wildland firefighters located on Schofield Barracks.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to provide a report on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam infrastructure development plan, to address ongoing concerns of the aging water and wastewater facilities on the installation.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to assess the aging infrastructure that houses the headquarters of the Marine Corps, Space Force and Special Operations Commands on O\u2018ahu.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to assess the requirement for a floating drydock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to assess the capacity for battle damage repair of all public shipyards and how to prepare these shipyards for conflict requirements under the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). SIOP is a multi-billion multi-year effort to upgrade the Navy\u2019s four public shipyards, including Pearl Harbor.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to assess the infrastructure needs and shortfalls for 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment on Marine Corps Base Hawai\u2018i.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to study the impacts of unexploded ordnance on military construction sites in Guam.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to study the necessary steps and what actions would be required to begin construction on port improvements on Tinian Island.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to study the necessity and feasibility of establishing a biosecurity inspection facility to combat invasive species on the Northern Mariana Islands.\n\n\u00b7 Directing the DoD to study the impact and develop a plan to address growing solid waste management issues on Tinian Island.\n\nThe bill now moves to the full House of Representatives for its consideration.\n\nA summary of the VA-MilCon funding bill is available here. The committee report explaining the full bill in detail is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T01:08:28Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://case.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3670"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8741100318729877, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}