Senator Murray: “The Department’s response provided few meaningful answers on how oversight will improve—that needs to change,” began Senator Murray. “Our servicemembers should have access to the best—or at least decent housing—not the worst.
***WATCH SENATOR MURRAY’S FULL QUESTIONING HERE***
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, during a Senate Appropriations Committee Defense (SAC-D) Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined her Senate colleagues in questioning Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, on President Biden’s annual budget request for the Department.
During the hearing, Senator Murray underscored repeat failures by the DoD to provide oversight of privatized military housing following numerous concerns of deplorable living conditions and housing shortages in the state. Murray highlighted a Department of Justice investigation in which Balfour Beatty Communities—which is responsible for housing on bases in Washington and many other states—pled guilty in December 2021 to defrauding the government over the period 2013-2019. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report showing that Balfour Beatty Communities continued the illegal behavior of falsifying its internal maintenance database to increase their incentive fees and forcing families to live in mold infested homes from 2019-2022, all while the Justice Department was prosecuting them. In addition, military families living at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord have sued over unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. Senator Murray pressed Secretary Austin on the urgent need to address these issues and fix ongoing military housing problems in Washington state.
“Secretary Austin, in January, I and many of my colleagues sent you a letter regarding DoD oversight of privatized housing after Balfour Beatty Communities pled guilty to defrauding the government. The Department’s response provided few meaningful answers on how oversight is actually improve—that really needs to change,” began Senator Murray. “Our servicemembers should have access to the best—or at least decent housing—not the worst. Now, we all want to fix this as soon as possible, this budget requests almost $168 million for Military Housing Privatization Support, that’s $45 million more than last year. Can you tell me, first, what are military families getting out of this funding increase; and, secondly, what is your assessment of the private housing companies’ compliance since the plea agreement, and will you hold them accountable for such horrendous, abusive conduct?”
In his response, Secretary Austin indicated he and each Service Secretary will hold the private housing companies accountable, reiterating the importance of the health and welfare of troops and their families to the Department. In addition, Secretary Austin acknowledged this as an issue the DoD can never take its eyes off of. Senator Murray restated her question asking what military families were getting out of the funding increases requested. Secretary Austin reiterated more resources were added to the budget to provide military families with more and higher quality housing.
The hearing also included questions from Senator Murray on the DoD’s work to get Ukraine the equipment and support they need to fight back against Russia’s attack on their country, as well what the Department is doing to advance the United States’ space capabilities to outmatch foreign competitors.
The daughter of a World War II veteran and also a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Senator Murray has been a longtime advocate of veterans and military families. In September of last year, she announced temporary increases to rental housing allowances from the DoD for active duty servicemembers, to help alleviate the financial burden of spiking housing costs faced by servicemembers relocating to military housing areas (MHAs).
In December of last year, she and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers announced that the Air Force will include Fairchild Air Force Base in a FY23 Housing Requirement and Market Analysis (HRMA). The move followed the two lawmakers’ letter to Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall earlier that month calling on the Air Force to conduct a full HRMA for Fairchild AFB in Spokane in order to assess and better address the affordable housing needs of servicemembers and their families at the base.
In December of 2021, Senator Murray helped pass the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (NDAA). Senator Murray championed measures in last year’s NDAA to support quality of life improvements for servicemembers and their families, such as a 2.7% pay raise for military servicemembers, 12 weeks of parental leave for servicemembers, establishing a Basic Needs Allowance for servicemembers, and inclusion of provisions from the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act to address sexual assault in the military.
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