BY SKYLER OBISPO
Journal Staff
The House Committee on Armed Services has transmitted a measure to the House Budget Committee which would allocate billions towards Department of Defense projects in the Indo-Pacific region.
According to a May 1 statement by Guam’s Congressional delegate, James C. Moylan, the committee passed the measure with a vote of 35-21 following the acceptance of H.Con.Res.14, the concurrent resolution on the fiscal 2025 budget for the federal government, which allocates $150 billion for defense.
The bill allocates $200 million towards the “acceleration” of the Guam Defense System. Moylan said the funding would strengthen the island’s defensive capabilities among emerging threats in the region.
Additionally, $1.1 billion would be allocated for “development of infrastructure within the area of operations of United States Indo-Pacific Command,” the bill read. Moylan said this funding could benefit the island’s power grid, roadways, and water and waste management amidst military development on the island.
The bill also calls for $450 million for airfield improvements across the region and $35 million for additive manufacturing capabilities in the region. During U.S. Secretary of Defense Peter B. Hegseth’s visit to the island in late March, he discussed with Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero the contract with Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America to grow a 3D printing work force to support U.S. naval operations.
Moylan also said $11 billion was allocated for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to expand military exercises and readiness in the region. According to Journal files, the DoD awarded $990 million through the PDI in multiple award construction contracts which include several Mariana Islands based groups. As a part of the U.S.’s Layered Homeland Defense, $408 million was allocated for Army space and strategic missile test range infrastructure restorations and modernizations for the region.
In light of coming summer exercises in the region, $1.09 billion was allocated for Army, Air Force, Marine, and Special Operations Command exercises. Notably, $532.6 million was allocated towards the Pacific Air Force’s biennial large-scale exercise. The measure does not state which exercise that would fund, but PACAF hosts several including Valiant Shield, Talisman Sabre, and Keen Sword.
Other notable allocations include $400 million for “the development, coordination, and deployment of economic competition effects within the Department of Defense”, $10 million for the expansion of the DoD workforce, $870 million for military support to Taiwan to “deter Chinese Communist Party aggression” and military exercises with the country.
Altogether, the figure of Indo-Pacific allocations listed in the measure totals up to $10.7 billion.
Outside of the region, Moylan said that $34 billion has been allocated for shipbuilding and maritime industrial base and $100,000 was allocated for the expansion of the Defense Industrial Base. mbj