Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Congressionally Directed Spending Requests for Fiscal Year 2023

Senator Gillibrand has submitted funding requests to the Senate Appropriations Committee for various state and local community projects that will benefit New Yorkers all across the state. Projects are listed in alphabetical order by location.

Under guidelines issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee, each Senator had the opportunity to submit CDS requests for their state for Fiscal Year 2023. It should be noted that only a handful of projects may actually be funded, and we cannot guarantee which those will be. Projects are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities are permitted to receive funding.

In compliance with Senate Rules and Committee requirements, Senator Gillibrand has certified that she and her immediate family have no financial interest in any of the projects she has requested.

Air Force Research Lab Directorate at Rome – Construct HF Antennas, Newport, and Stockbridge Test Annexes – Rome, NY
$4,500,000
Construction of these towers to support RDT&E efforts of AFRL will provide resilient and modernized HF and LF infrastructure for USAF use. Completion of this project will provide AFRL/RI the capability to advance warfighting communication technologies and allow the USAF to satisfy requirements set forth in the2018 National Defense Strategy. This project is a RDT&E based project that will have minimal effect on USAF assets and subsequently asset management principles. This project is needed at this time to keep up with advancing communication technologies as the USAF has fallen behind its counterparts in regards to BLOS communication.

Fort Drum – Access Control Point – Watertown, NY
$5,800,000
July 2018, IMCOM conducted a Higher Headquarters Assessment utilizing the Joint Staff Integrated Vulnerability Assessment (JSIVA) Benchmarks for force protection of Fort Drum. They identified the shortcoming that Fort Drum’s ACPs do not meet the Army Standards. The current deficiency are no POV or commercial truck inspection buildings, no search office, no active vehicle barrier system, no over watch position, no standby generator and no UPS system. The major deficiency would be the lack of no active vehicle barrier system. Fort Drum is currently randomly inspecting privately owned vehicles and commercial trucks in the inbound lanes at the ID Check Areas, a GSA Military Police vehicle is located on site as a chase vehicle but they have no way of stopping a breaching vehicle from entering the base. A Comprehensive Transportation Engineering Assessment was completed in April 2010. The assessment demonstrates the requirement for a Primary ACP that is capable of supporting passenger vehicles and commercial trucks on the southeastern boundary of the cantonment. A new highway intersection funded by the State of New York was constructed in 2018 which provided improved traffic capabilities to and from this site.

Fort Drum – Aircraft Maintenance Hanger – Watertown, NY
$78,000,000
This project is required to provide adequate aircraft maintenance hangar bays, paint booth, aircraft wash apron, POL storage facility, and hardstand apron for the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade. Existing facilities are not available to support maintenance and secure storage operations. All existing facilities under this facility category code are fully utilized.

Fort Drum – Enlisted Transient Training Barracks– Watertown, NY
$55,000,000
There is an immediate need for adequate facilities to support United States Army Reserve (USAR)/ Army Reserve National Guard (ARNG) Training, Mobilization, Deployment, and Demobilization missions and to ensure the Operational Readiness of USAR/ARNG Soldiers. The requirement is to use prioritized installations as the Power Projection Platforms for Reserve Component (RC) and Active Component (AC) unit training and rotations in support of Operations Inherent Resolve (OIR), Operation Resolute Support (ORS) and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS). There are a large number of transient Soldiers from Active Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard who mobilize/demobilize and participate in, Annual Training, Joint Exercises, Partnership Exercises, and Pre-National Training Center (NTC)/Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) Rotation Certifying Exercises while at Fort Drum. Soldiers can also be in a Medical Holdover status or attending military formalized training courses, all requiring barracks facilities. As a Power Projection Platform, it is imperative that Fort Drum increase its transient barracks capabilities to meet the operational requirements of the Active Army, Reserve Component and National Guard.

Fort Drum – Fitness Testing Facility Field House – Watertown, NY
$53,000,000
In accordance with HQDA EXORD 069-18, Fort Drum is required to provide a physical fitness testing facilities for Soldiers to take the Army Combat Physical Fitness Test. This facility will allow Soldiers to take the Army Combat Physical Fitness Test in any season.

Lexington Armory (Army National Guard) – Lexington Avenue Armory Rehabilitation Project – Watertown, NY
$35,841,000 (President’s Request: $28,245,000)
This $7,595,203 in design funding is the federal reimbursement portion for the Lexington Avenue Armory Rehabilitation Project, which will hopefully support the full renovation and rehabilitation of the Armory in FY24.

Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station (Air Force Reserve) – Combined Operations and Alert Facility – Niagara Falls, NY
$2,800,000
This funding will help support designs for a two story, 4,980 SM (53,600 GSF) permanent construction facility to consolidate the 914 AES, 328 ARS with Crew Readiness, 914 OSS, and 914 OG functions. The existing 914 OG is geographically spread across Niagara ARS in several buildings, none of which are located on the flightline. Being spread across multiple facilities and with no significant access to the flightline hampers command and control, makes coordinated training more difficult and less efficient, duplicates functional spaces, and increases mission response time. If the project is not executed, the Operations functions will continue to occupy multiple facilities as stated above – with associated space and mission deficiencies resulting in a significant detriment to their missions.