| July 23, 2004 |
Congresswoman Kay Granger (R – Fort Worth) announced Friday that the final Defense Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2005 overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives Thursday evening. The bill funds many important defense programs built in North Texas.
This $417.5 billion Department of Defense (DOD) bill provides needed equipment, training, and other resources for United States military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The President’s $25 billion war supplemental request for continuing operations in the Middle East is also included in this bill. Bell Helicopter Textron’s V-22 Osprey and H-1 Helicopter Upgrade programs were two North Texas programs included in the bill’s funding allocations.
The bill provides $1.9 billion for eight new MV-22’s for the Marine Corps and three new CV-22’s for the Air Force Special Operations units.
The bill also includes approximately $4.6 billion to continue the F/A-22 Raptor program and to purchase 24 of the new fighters. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program was funded at $4.4 billion.
The funds finance continued development of the program, which is an increase of $97 million over last year’s level for JSF. Both the F/A-22 and the JSF are Lockheed Martin Aeronautics programs.
"The Fort Worth area produces the finest equipment for our armed services, and I worked hard to fund our programs in this bill," said Granger. "This appropriations season has been very tough, and this bill’s funding for V-22, F/A-22, JSF, H-1 Upgrades, and other North Texas programs demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to providing our soldiers with the best equipment available."
The fiscal year 2005 Defense Appropriations bill also passed the Senate late yesterday and now goes to the President for his signature.