{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/11/07/budd-joins-bipartisan-coalition-pushing-to-upgrade-military-barracks/", "Budd Joins Bipartisan Coalition Pushing to Upgrade Military Barracks", "2023-11-07", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Ted Budd", "B001305", "www.budd.senate.gov", "budd", "https://www.budd.senate.gov/category/news/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) has joined a coalition letter to the Department of Defense (DOD) urging the department to increase funding requests to upgrade barracks on military bases across the country.\n\nThe letter was also signed by: Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Ted Cruz (R-TX).\n\nThe full text of the letter is below:\n\nWe write to express our frustration regarding atrocious and unacceptable conditions in barracks facilities across the armed forces.\n\nAs I am sure you are aware, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report entitled \u201cMilitary Barracks: Poor Living Conditions Undermine Quality of Life and Readiness.\u201d The report found that \u201cliving conditions in some military barracks may pose potentially serious risks to the physical and mental health of service members, as well as their safety.\u201d The reports further noted that in one facility: \u201cFormer residents of this barracks told us they experienced months of hot water interruptions and routinely dealt with clogged showers, broken door locks, broken elevators, and apparent mold growth.\u201d\n\nThe GAO report specifically identified the lack of reliable information about barracks conditions, and the level of funding committed to barracks facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization (FSRM), as key areas of concern. A few key examples from the report:\n\n\u201cDOD has not tracked complete or reliable information on how much Operations and Maintenance (O&M) or Military Construction (MILCON) it has used to improve barracks conditions or how much would be needed to meet minimum condition standards.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen we asked the military services to provide information on the amount of FSRM funding obligated for barracks, none was able to provide us complete data.\u201d\n\nThese findings call into question the reliability of armed service budget requests for facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization, which already consistently fall below assessed requirements. Therefore, we ask for your commitment to the following:\n\nThe fiscal year 2025 budget request for each of the armed services will reflect 100% of assessed barracks sustainment, restoration, and modernization requirements.\n\nThe fiscal year 2025 budget request for each of the armed services will specify the amount of facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization funding allocated to barracks facilities.\n\nThese barracks sustainment, restoration, and modernization requirements will be assessed using a consistent methodology across each service.\n\nThe fiscal year 2025 budget request will include a comprehensive and installation-specific identification of military construction (MILCON) requirements, regardless of whether these requirements are slated for funding in fiscal year 2025.\n\nDepartment of Defense personnel will brief our staffs on Department efforts to address barracks maintenance, repair, modernization, and construction requirements.\n\nAt a time when the Department of Defense is rightly working to address serious recruitment and retention issues, reports of poor living conditions serve only to dissuade qualified Americans from considering military service. Moreover, those who have already answered the call to serve deserve a standard of living commensurate with the most modern and capable fighting force in the world. Anything less represents a failure to uphold the U.S. government\u2019s commitments and endangers military readiness.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "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://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/11/07/budd-joins-bipartisan-coalition-pushing-to-upgrade-military-barracks/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0633531492203474, "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"}