Kitsap Daily News reporter Mike De Felice recently spent a week in Washington, D.C. with U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer of Kitsap County’s 6th Congressional District observing the lawmaker while he worked in and around the halls of Congress. The visit resulted in a three-part series looking at what the region’s elected congressman does during his time in Washington, D.C., which ends up being about half of the year.
The series started by following Kilmer on a typical “day in the life” in the nation’s capital and examined his work on the “Fix Congress” committee — also known as the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, which he chairs.
In this final installment, we review the five-term Democrat’s work on the influential Appropriations Committee and the group’s defense subcommittee that oversees U.S. defense spending. Funding decisions of these committees frequently impact Kitsap County, home of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
By Mike De Felice
Kitsap News Group
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Money equals power, be it in the corporate world or in politics.
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer sits on the Appropriations Committee, viewed as one of the “power committees” in Washington, D.C. since it holds the power of the purse. Bills passed by the Appropriations Committee and its Senate counterpart regulate how the U.S. government spends taxpayer dollars for most of the federal government’s functions, including national defense and education. As a result, members of the committee are seen as influential policymakers.
Kilmer has been on the high-powered Appropriations Committee since 2015 when he was appointed to the seat by his Democratic colleagues. In addition to being part of the defense subcommittee, Kilmer also sits on the energy and water development, and interior and environment subcommittees.
Local impact of defense spending
The Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee oversees funding for the military, the intelligence community, and other national defense-related agencies. It has jurisdiction over the departments of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Decisions made by the defense subcommittee can have a direct impact on the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton and other military facilities in the Pacific Northwest. An example of this is the defense portion of a federal spending bill recently signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The congressman outlined ways the Bremerton shipyard will benefit from the defense spending bill.
Shipyard modernization
The measure provides $21 billion over 20 years to modernize the Bremerton shipyard and the country’s other three naval shipyards, Kilmer said.
“The investment in our shipyards ensures they are capable of meeting the Navy’s mission and are modernized so maintenance can be done more efficiently,” Kilmer explained.
“The benefit to Kitsap County is going to be substantial. It means a few generations of work will continue to come to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. We are talking about construction jobs and $5-6 billion coming into our local economy.”
Installation of a new drydock to handle the next generation of aircraft carriers is the most significant piece of the modernization work.
“When the Ford-class [of nuclear-powered aircraft] carriers come online, there is currently not a West Coast shipyard capable of handling [them],” the Gig Harbor congressman said. That class of aircraft carriers is expected to replace the existing Nimitz-class carriers.
Modernization of the shipyard will also involve updating the 130-year-old naval base’s infrastructure. This will improve the facility’s resiliency to fire, earthquakes, and other natural hazards, he noted.
Military pay increase
The legislation also provided a 2.7 percent pay raise for uniformed U.S. service members and approximately 750,000 civilian Defense Department employees, Kilmer said. In addition, the measure funded President Biden’s executive order that all Department of Defense personnel is paid at least $15 per hour.
Military families will certainly benefit from higher military wages, as will Kitsap County, Kilmer said.
“It seems strange to say it takes an act of Congress to make sure we are adequately compensating the folks who work to keep us safe, but it turns out it does take an act of Congress,” he quipped.
“The naval presence is the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to our local economy. The federal government is the largest employer. Making sure that people are sufficiently compensated matters.
“When raises are provided to the federal workforce, that improves the disposable income of the residents of our community. It even helps our Main Street employers because when people have money in their pockets, they are able to spend it,” the congressman said.
As recent defense spending bills show, the decisions made in Washington, D.C., can have a direct bearing on the economy of Kitsap County.
Assisting defense communities
Towns and cities around defense complexes will also benefit from the legislation.
“Growth at our military installations is a positive thing, but it can create strain on local communities. This can be manifested, for example, by traffic at Gorst or the strain on the childcare system because we have to make sure there is a place for working people to put their kids.”
The federal legislation also increased funding to assist state and local governments to pay for community infrastructure projects surrounding military installations. This will benefit areas around Kitsap County’s military and defense facilities, and Tacoma’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord, he said.
Local businesses can apply for federal grants to help pay for local needs. “The federal government will be a partner in paying expenses rather than the costs falling entirely on the shoulders of the taxpayers of Kitsap County,” he said.
Enthusiasm has already been voiced about the defense community infrastructure program, he said.
Submarine facility
The measure also provides $10 million to build an interim submarine maintenance complex to support the shipyard and maintenance facility work, he said. The funding will support infrastructure associated with repairing fast-attack submarines homeported at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
“This critical funding enables the construction of temporary maintenance facilities, including relocatable buildings and support infrastructure, which is vital for repairing fast-attack submarines homeported at Bangor,” Kilmer said.
Kilmer is the only Democrat from Washington state on the 59-member House Appropriations Committee and the smaller 17-member defense subcommittee. There are two state Republicans also on House Appropriations — Dan Newhouse from the 4th Congressional District in central Washington and Jamie Herrera Beutler of the 3rd Congressional District in the southwestern part of the state.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson moves out of dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in April 2020. (U.S. Navy photo)
