Senate Appropriations Committee passes bill for Cannon Air Force Base construction projects, veteran service programs expansion

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (KAMR/KCIT) – US Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico announced the unanimous Senate Appropriations Committee passage of the Fiscal Year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. His office said that the bill includes $36.9 million for New Mexico’s military installations and items for veterans, including $11.2 million for Cannon Air Force Base.

According to Heinrich’s office, the funding for New Mexico military construction will include four projects, two of which will be at Cannon AFB, alongside report language focused on White Sands Missile Range’s energy infrastructure.

The four construction projects, said Heinrich’s office, will include:

• $7.2 million to construct a facility for Deployed Aircraft Ground Response Element at Cannon AFB;
• $4 million to construct an Air Force Special Operations Command Security Forces Squadron Operations Building at Cannon AFB;
• $22,400,000 to plan and design a new High Speed Test Track at Holloman AFB; and
• $3,330,000 to plan and design a new, consolidated North Range Mission Control Center at White Sands Missile Range.

The office announcement noted that the report language for the energy infrastructure at White Sands Missile Range states, “The Committee encourages U.S. Army Headquarters to work with the White Sands Missile Range to find a mutually agreeable solution to the energy infrastructure needs on the installation. The Committee also directs the U.S. Army to provide a report on mutually agreed upon solutions to the energy infrastructure needs of White Sands Missile Range.”

Further, the committee included support for increases in funding for veteran programs in the bill, such as:

• Urging Veterans Affairs to expand eligibility and increase funding for the Highly Rural Transportation Grants Program, which helps veterans in rural areas travel to VA or VA-authorized healthcare facilities. Heinrich’s office said the expansion would improve transportation access to and from facilities that serve rural veterans by expanding the definition of “Highly Rural,” and could directly benefit New Mexico veterans in Union County and others that use HRTGs;
• $343 million for a home-based primary care program for veterans located in rural and highly rural areas by increasing relevant research, innovation, and dissemination capabilities;
• Directing the VA to report on the efforts taken to help veterans impacted by the end of the Veterans Assistance Partial Claim Payment program, and provide a status on the implementation of the new Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program created to help veterans avoid or recover from delinquency and foreclosure;
• $3.2 billion to expand the Services for Veteran Families Program, the Grant and Per Diem Program, and the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program, all of which provide critical services and housing for veterans and their families;
• $150 million for the construction of state extended care facilities, and urging the VA to consider additional factors in the grant prioritization process which may have an adverse impact to veterans in rural states;
• $878 million for research on prosthetics and limb loss, which could support the VA’s Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service – according to Heinrich’s office, the largest and most comprehensive provider of prosthetic devices and sensory aids in the world;
• $70 million for neurology-related Centers of Excellence, which can coordinate multidisciplinary care and focus at times on multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and headache disorders;
• $713 million for opioid prevention and treatment programs, while directing the VA to expand training and education for providers on the use of FDA-approved medication-assisted treatments for substance use disorder, as well as ensure veterans are able to access these medications in inpatient and emergency settings;
• Directing the VA to publish regulations and offer quarterly updates to Congress on childcare programs for veterans receiving care at VA medical facilities and to inform veterans of those services; and
• Directing the VA to report to Congress about its plans to eliminate its backlog of more than 72,000 hearings for pending veteran claims, which was reported in November 2023.

Heinrich’s office noted that the bill will next be sent to be considered by the full US Senate.

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