Defense Communities 360 Headlines

The state of Hawaii will receive a $26.6 million grant from DOD to renovate and expand an elementary school at Wheeler Army Airfield/Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, the department announced Thursday. The federal funding comes from $500 million allocated to DOD’s Office of Economic Adjustment by Congress in the fiscal 2011 and 2012 spending bills to construct, renovate, repair or expand public schools located on military installations …

DOD officials are telling congressional staff that the Obama administration is planning to issue its fiscal 2014 budget request April 8, reported CQ. As recently as last week, congressional committees had been expecting the budget on March 25. The new target, which falls nine weeks after the White House is statutorily required to submit its budget to Congress, coincides with the date lawmakers return from their Easter break. Neither the White House nor DOD has publicly said when the new spending plan will be ready. The administration’s delay in producing the budget means that the two chambers’ budget committees will not see the FY 2014 budget request before they mark up their budget resolutions next week.

Senate Democrats plan to add three individual spending bills to the continuing resolution passed by the House on Wednesday, a move that doesn’t necessarily threaten a showdown with Republicans but could slow passage of legislation needed to keep the government running after March 27. On Thursday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she would add three relatively noncontroversial spending bills — most likely agriculture, homeland security and commerce-justice-science — to the House spending package for fiscal 2013 …

Researchers estimate there are between 275,000 and 1 million women and men who are providing care or have provided care for veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, but little is known about their needs and the nation lacks a coherent strategy for supporting them, according to a new RAND Corp. report. Military caregivers — which include spouses, children and parents of military members and veterans — differ from informal caregivers of civilians in several key ways, the report states …

Statutory changes to the BRAC statute could improve congressional oversight of a future base closure round and provide greater assurances that projected costs and savings from specific recommendations are realized, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office. The primary objective of BRAC 2005 was not eliminating excess capacity, but rather transforming the military by realigning base structure to better meet the needs of force structure while fostering jointness among the services. As a result, many recommendations were not expected to produce 20-year net savings, the report found …

Gov. Mike Beebe signed legislation this week making Arkansas the 44th state to adopt an interstate agreement intended to smooth the transition between school districts and states when military children move. The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children addresses key educational transition issues encountered by military families, including enrollment, placement, attendance, eligibility and graduation …

The federal government is using the $30 million Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Microgrid Project to demonstrate how military bases can benefit from installing microgrids at sites where renewable energy technologies are deployed. The initiative, which is being run by the government in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories, is relying on a three-step program, with each phase extending the project’s scope, reported Your Energy Blog: the first stage already has been implemented at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; a new 146-kilowatt solar system and 50 kilowatts of wind power were added to the existing renewable sources in place at the installation, and the additions were fully tested in January …

The relocation of about 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam is on track to be completed by 2020, a six-year delay from the original goal of 2014, Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told lawmakers Tuesday. Locklear urged the House Armed Services Committee to accelerate funding for the realignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific region, which also includes shifting several thousand Marines from Japan to Hawaii. That realignment has a 2026 completion target …

The new defense secretary should undertake “a new and comprehensive review of all aspects of Pentagon strategy, capabilities, and budget in order to create a new long term defense posture,” according to a letter to Chuck Hagel from five former deputy defense secretaries. The letter — from John Deutch, John White, John Hamre, Rudy de Leon and William Lynn III — comes as “the Pentagon now faces crippling uncertainty about its future financial resources to support force structure, readiness and training operations, and for critical modernization programs,” and calls for DOD to engage Congress on possible future defense budget reductions …

The House on Wednesday approved a spending bill to keep the government open through the end of the fiscal year that also provides flexibility to the Pentagon to alleviate some of the funding shortfall in its operations and maintenance account. Most Democrats opposed the bill, saying it locks in the $85 billion sequester and fails to provide similar flexibility to non-defense agencies to mitigate the across-the-board spending cuts …