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A House committee has proposed to cut funding in a Senate bill introduced to aid Minot, Grand Forks and Fargo in supporting and retaining the military presences in their communities.
The House Appropriations Committee is recommending an amended version of Senate Bill 2240 that cuts proposed funding to the communities by more than half.
The original bill passed by the Senate on a 47-0 vote provided $500,000 to each of the communities for base retention and another $400,000 to Minot to prepare for the major impact coming in several years when the Air Force replaces the ground-based missile system. The amendment approved by the committee gives $400,000 to Minot for Minot Air Force Base and $200,000 to each Grand Forks for Grand Forks Air Force Base and Fargo for the Army National Guard.
The amendments passed 16-5 in committee, while the amended bill passed 18-3. It has yet to come to the House floor.
Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, who opposed the way the cuts landed, had objected to granting base retention money without hearing evidence that bases are in jeopardy.
"All we've done is ensure that Minot doesn't have enough to complete their strategy for a very specific project that is on the books and needs our attention. The other thing we have done is make sure we will continue to write checks without any reason to the other communities," he said.
Rep. Randy Schobinger, R-Minot, objected to Minot receiving the larger cut despite the legislative debate that focused on the need for the Minot community to prepare for the missile replacement project.
"I don't really understand the logic there," he said.
Rep. David Monson, R-Osnabrock, noted the Senate is unlikely to concur, resulting in the bill ending up in conference committee if the House adopts the amended version.
"We haven't seen the end of this one," he said.
Bill sponsor Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, said he expects the bill will find its way to a conference committee, where Minot's funding will be considered again.
"I think they believe the Minot project is worthy of the money," he said. "There's room for the conference committee to talk about that. I think we will get more for Minot.
"Ours is a serious situation. We want to make sure that we have the funds to do the right planning," he added, noting that 3,000 construction personnel could be coming to the Minot area. "We want to make sure that we get all the pieces of the puzzle in the right order so that we can move forward and get it done right."