Sioux Falls, SD—U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), Chairman of the Senate Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, today met with Air National Guard officials, including Wing Commander Colonel Russ Walz to discuss the funding he secured for expansion of the Air National Guard Base.
“I am pleased to see the federal funds I secured being used to improve the base infrastructure for the Air National Guard, and it is good to know what the base needs as Congress begins the annual budget process,” Johnson said. “I will continue to work to fund South Dakota’s military installations because they are important to our state and our nation’s security.”
Johnson secured $7.9 million for the South Dakota Air National Guard’s Base Civil Engineer Maintenance Complex in the federal funding bill that passed the Senate in December.
Johnson will also be updated on the completed Squadrons Operations Facility, which he secured $7 million for in Fiscal Year 2005. In recent years, Johnson also secured $5.5 million for the Security Forces Facility for the base.
“The Civil Engineer Maintenance Complex is an important project and I am looking forward to seeing the start of construction. The Squadrons Operations facility is complete, and the other construction projects are on track to keep our Air National Guard prepared in the coming years,” Johnson said.
While home for the district work period, Johnson has held meetings and attended events in Tea, Huron, Rapid City, Brookings and Pierre. Johnson will travel to be in Vermillion to address the annual Vermillion Chamber & Development Corporation (VCDC) Banquet this evening before returning for Washington this weekend.
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For more information on Senator Tim Johnson visit his website at http://johnson.senate.gov. To contact Senator Johnson’s communications office via e-mail, write his Communications Director at Julianne_Fisher@Johnson.Senate.gov
or his Deputy Communications Director at Megan_Smith@Johnson.Senate.gov.
