The $1.4 trillion government spending bill passed by Congress on Monday — which was then thrown into uncertainty by President Donald Trump on Tuesday — includes $133 million for a controversial Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii, $6 million for the USS Arizona Memorial, and $363 million in military and national security projects in Hawaii.
The projects are among dozens benefiting Hawaii in the legislation, said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat.
In a video posted to twitter Tuesday, Trump called the tandem $900 billion COVID-19 relief measure a “disgrace,” but seemed to conflate it with the $1.4 trillion omnibus appropriations package that funds the government.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal 2021 is a combined $2.3 trillion.
“It’s called the COVID relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID” and includes $85.5 million for Cambodia, $134 million for Burma, and assistance for museums, Trump said. However, those efforts are funded through annual appropriations and not the coronavirus relief bill.
Trump on Wednesday vetoed the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 — something he had vowed to do — and raised the specter of a government funding and COVID-19 relief veto as well.
Schatz tweeted Tuesday: “If Trump vetoes the Omnibus/COVID Relief package and the National Defense Authorization Act, I feel reasonably confident that Congress will override him twice.”
Schatz said in a release that the bipartisan spending deal agreed to by Congress “will give our state millions in much-needed federal funding to help us rebuild our economy, create new jobs, and help people access critical programs during this difficult time.”
The Pearl Harbor National Memorial would receive $6 million in new funding, with the majority, $5.6 million, going to replace the failing shoreside floating dock used to transport visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial. Schatz said the remainder would be used to improve visitor services and security.
Appropriators included $133 million toward the
$1.9 billion Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii that’s intended to better protect the Aloha State against North Korean ballistic missile threats — even though the Pentagon had zeroed out its 2021 budget request for that radar and another proposed for the Pacific.
The radars were seen by some in the Pentagon as less of a priority in a wider review of sensor needs and increasing demand for space-based sensors. The rapidly-changing threat environment includes hypersonic and cruise missiles that could maneuver around ground-based radars.
Ship- and shore-based capability to defend against North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles also is emerging with the development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile, which successfully intercepted an ICBM-representative target for the first time in November. The interceptor was fired by the destroyer USS John Finn northeast of Hawaii.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation has stuck with the Hawaii radar as a priority and shied away from interceptors being located in the state. Appropriators included $133 million in the
final bill.
Riki Ellison, chairman of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said “the Hawaii delegation came strong” with the radar in the omnibus bill.
But instead of serving only to link to ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California that provide limited ICBM protection for
Hawaii, Ellison believes the radar may morph in design to integrate with SM-3 Block IIA missiles that will someday be located in Hawaii or on a destroyer near the state.
Three sites on Oahu were originally considered for the big radar. The omnibus bill notes that site selection “has been delayed due to locations previously under consideration no longer being considered viable.”
A site at the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai has been added for “full environmental analysis.” The Missile Defense Agency previously clarified that one site at Kahuku Training Area on Oahu still is being considered along with a spot in the southern portion of PMRF.
Asked last month if the Missile Defense Agency still thinks the $1.9 billion Hawaii radar should be built as originally envisioned, the agency said it “maintains a hybrid radar/space approach” and will continue to work with the Defense Department “to evaluate the best solution to meet the warfighter’s requirements.”
Congressional appropriators want the Missile Defense Agency to submit a report within 30 days regarding the Kauai site’s viability and impact on PMRF training range operations.
Schatz said the funding deal passed by Congress includes $363 million for military and national security projects in Hawaii, including $89 million for an aircraft maintenance hangar at Wheeler Army Airfield and $45 million for a new hangar at Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point for C-130J aircraft to support homeland defense missions in Hawaii and the Pacific.
