Construction Begins On Fairchild Project

Wed., Aug. 26, 1998

From Staff

Fairchild Air Force Base officials and Sen. Patty Murray lifted ceremonial shovels of dirt Tuesday morning to mark the start of an $8.2 million base library and education center.

The project, which is expected to be completed in about 15 months, will replace five small mobile homes that have been converted into office space with a 48,000-square-foot facility.

Murray, who helped persuade Congress to add the project to the Air Force’s budget, said the center will enhance the quality of life on the base for military personnel and their families. That could help convince people to re-enlist or continue their careers in the Air Force, she said.

Because it was not part of the Clinton administration’s original budget for fiscal year 1998, a congressional watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, has labeled it a pork barrel project.

But Murray, D-Wash., said the education center was on a list of buildings the Air Force would be asking to build around the turn of the century. She merely used her position as ranking Democrat on the Senate military construction subcommittee to spend money to build the project now, she said.

Libraries and education facilities should never be considered pork barrel projects, she said.

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