by Sabrina Salas Matanane

In the nation's capitol today, the House Armed Services Committee marked up the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. The bill authorizes 552-billion dollars for the Department of Defense and 85.5 billion dollars for overseas contingency operations. During the mark up hearing Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo said the bill puts real resources into the rebalance of our military to the Asia Pacific region.

" Our bill also rolls back restrictive language that hampers the obligation and expenditure of the government of Japan funds. This restriction makes absolutely no sense in the current fiscal environment and repeal of these restrictions is positive for our bilateral relationship with the government of Japan" she stated.

The proposed Fiscal Year 2013 NDAA includes 494.6 million dollars for military construction on Guam, 119.4 - million for civilian infrastructure needs on Guam (to include initial improvements at the Northern District wastewater treatment plant and the Hagatna wastewater treatment plant), and it also requires a report from DOD on details regarding the permanent establishment of a missile defense capability on Guam. For the complete list of provisions related to the territory log on to kuam.com. We should note the House Armed Services Committee passed the bill which now moves to the full house for further consideration.