PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a policy-setting defense bill with an amendment that would benefit employers at the redeveloped Navy air base in Brunswick called Brunswick Landing.
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation hailed inclusion of the amendment, which would expand the reach of a federal program that gives preference in federal contracts to companies with 35 percent or more of their employees living on the former military base.
The amendments would expand that range, giving preferential contract treatment to companies that employ workers living within a certain radius of a former base.
“Both of our Maine senators have been tremendous champions of this bill, which will be a big boost to the businesses here at Brunswick Landing to allow them to grow at this former naval air station,” said Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, in a news release.
The amendment that cleared the House on Friday would expand the radius for qualifying employees to 25 miles. Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King pushed for a different version of that provision in an amendment approved Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican who represents Maine’s 2nd U.S. House district, said the change would expand that radius into areas of his district and spur businesses to “create more jobs and help get Mainers back to work.”
The Senate bill, according to King’s office, also includes $7.2 million for improvements to the fire and rescue station at the Bangor International Airport, $4 billion for the Navy destroyer programs providing work at Bath Iron Works and a procurement of 63 more of the controversially expensive F-35 fighter jets, which feature parts made by Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick and General Dynamics in Saco.
The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act cleared the Republican-dominated House by a 269-151 vote, overcoming a Democratic push to reject the bill. The White House has threatened a veto because the bill uses a procedural gimmick to circumvent budget caps for defense spending.
The NDAA is used by the armed services committees in Congress to set policy for the U.S. Defense Department and authorize spending, but it does not actually appropriate funds. That is done by the appropriations committees in the House and Senate through a different bill.
The House version of the NDAA still must be reconciled with a Senate bill and adopted by both chambers before being sent to the president.
Reuters reporter David Alexander contributed to this report.