Washington, DC – Wednesday, Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO), ranking member of the Oversight & Investigations subcommittee of the House Armed Services committee, successfully attached provisions to the 2009 Defense Authorization Act (HR 5658). The bill, which authorizes budget authority for the Department of Defense and the national security programs at the Department of Energy, will now carry these provisions offered by Congressman Akin when it comes to a vote on the House floor.

The bill contains two provisions that Congressman Akin has worked to include that will improve health care for our warfighters. The first is aimed at increasing the availability of chiropractic care at military healthcare facilities. The second, which Akin added by amendment, authorizes the Department of Defense to establish a peer-reviewed research program focused on extremity trauma.

"While the military health care system leads the world in providing prosthetics, more can be done to prevent the loss of limbs in the first place," said Akin. "It is appropriate to increase funding for medical research into saving the limbs of those injured during the defense of our Nation."

Akin also worked to include the following to the Defense Authorization:

• $10M for enterprise enabled, integrated aviation tools for the Army (being done by Westar in St. Charles)
• $5.4M for hyperspectral imaging for improved force protection (being done by Clean Earth Technologies, in Earth City)
• $1.5M for ultra-wideband reactive waveform modulator (UWB-RWM) for IED countermeasures (X-COM in Warrensburg, MO)
• $10M for work on short range ballistic missile defense (with work being done by LaBarge Corp in St. Louis)
• $3.9B for 15 additional C-17’s (with work being done by Boeing & others in St. Louis)
• $11.7M in funding for an Army Reserve Center in Weldon Springs

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee recommendations included in the bill/report):

• PRT strategy & performance measures (Iraq & Afghanistan)
• Interagency integration into Military planning
• PRT lessons learned integration into stability ops planning
• Items pertaining to civilian personnel in war zones
• Successfully offered an amendment requiring the Navy to look at an additional multi-year purchase arrangement on F/A-18 Super Hornets (made by Boeing in St. Louis)
• Successfully offered an amendment requiring the Secretary of Defense to report on the possibility of using military bases closed by BRAC as nuclear facilities or oil/natural gas refineries