Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) says that last week’s markup of the 2008 defense authorization bill by the Senate Armed Services Committee does not include additional funding he wanted for Cannon AFB, N.M., to support the switch to Air Force Special Operations Command. In a statement, Domenici said he and other New Mexico lawmakers had requested authorization for an additional $68 million for unfunded military construction requirements. He said it would have been “helpful for the committee to address these needs initially, but this is just one step on the long road toward the final FY2008 defense bills becoming law.” Domenici also didn’t get the $19.5 million he wanted to jump-start the beddown of the F-22 at Holloman AFB, N.M. He said the funding would have ensured “as seamless a transition as possible,” but the base is “on track to receive F-22s in a timely manner to replace F-117s.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.