Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2027

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Chairman, as the proud Representative of the great military installation of Fort Bliss, Texas, and as a member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I thank Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz not just for their work on this bill but for being champions of bipartisan collaboration. I am so grateful to the both of them for that.

While this is not a perfect bill, it does make real progress. The bill advances my provisions supporting reforms and innovation to help modernize a military construction process that is far too slow and rigid for today's military.

The needs we have for military construction are far greater than the resources available, and I am deeply committed to reforming this process so that we can stretch those dollars even further.

This bill also supports planning for a new headquarters for the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command at Fort Bliss, whose aging facilities no longer match its global mission.

On the VA side, I am pleased that this bill includes my own legislation to ensure oversight of the activation planning of the VA medical center being built in El Paso, right next to William Beaumont Army Medical Center. I was proud to help secure the $700 million to build this great facility, and I am committed to ensuring that it delivers world-class healthcare for veterans on day one.

While I am disappointed that the bill still contains a partisan provision that weakens gun background check protections for veterans that I do not agree with, the final product is still a thoughtful, bipartisan one, and I support it in its current form. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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