Schumer Urges Top Fed Official to Fully Fund Visiting Airmen's Quarters at NARS

SCHUMER URGES TOP FED OFFICIAL TO FULLY FUND VISITING AIRMEN'S QUARTERS AT NARS

New DOD Comptroller Tina Jonas Recently Replaced Dov Zakheim, Who Had Agreed To Fully Fund Niagara Air Reserve Station

Schumer Places Personal Phone Call to Push for Funding for NARS; Jonas Receptive to Request

US Senator Charles E. Schumer in a phone call late Wednesday urged the current Department of Defense Comptroller, Tina Jonas, support the inclusion of full funding for the construction of a Visiting Quarters at the Niagara Air Reserve Station (NARS) in the Department of Defense budget. In making this request, Schumer asked that Comptroller Jonas honor a commitment made by her predecessor. Schumer, who aggressively lobbied the Department of Defense to support funding for NARS, said funding for the Visiting Quarters must be included the Defense Budget this year. Jonas was receptive to his request and said she would do everything she could to fund the program.

"When we secured the funding commitment from the previous Defense Department Comptroller, it meant we would be getting money to Niagara quickly and moving this project closer to the finish line," Schumer said. "I called Comptroller Jonas to ensure that she would keep her predecessor's commitment to funding the new Visitor's Quarters. Since the station is the second largest employer in the county this project is important to the local economy and area jobs. Most importantly, we need to do everything we can to help the men and women of the 914th Airlift Wing and the 107th Air Reserve."

In March, Schumer joined Senator Clinton, Representative Slaughter, and Representative Reynolds in meeting with Defense Department Comptroller Dov S. Zakheim and urged him to include funding for the visiting quarters in the 2006 budget. Construction for a Visiting Quarters for airmen at NARS is needed to replace deteriorating billeting at NARS which currently does not meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards, New York Safety Codes, or US Air Force Quality of Life Standards. Delays in construction, or a failure to replace the current Visiting Airman's Quarters at NARS would increase the government's investment in maintenance of the facility and costs to the base associated with energy and high maintenance costs of the current facilities.

Zakheim told Schumer and other lawmakers that he would push to include the funding for the Visiting Quarters in his Fiscal Year 2006 budget request. Zakheim stepped down in April 2004 and was replaced by Jonas.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2005/PR40068.airmen11305.html