New York's Senator
CHARLES E. SCHUMER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 18, 2000

SCHUMER, MCNULTY SAY THAT WATERVLIET ARSENAL WILL RECEIVE $20.1 MILLION

Funding Will Help Arsenal With Funding To Help With Operating Costs

US Senator Charles E. Schumer and US Representative Michael McNulty today announced that the Watervliet Arsenal will receive $20.1 million from the Defense Appropriations Bill that is expected to pass Congress in the next few days. These additional funds will be included in the Army's underutilized plant-capacity account for arsenals.

"The Arsenal is a unique facility, filled with highly skilled workers, who turn out a quality product on a daily basis. Unfortunately, cutbacks in recent years have raised the facility's overall operating costs and impaired its ability to compete for contracts," Schumer said. "This increased funding will help subsidize the overall operating costs for arsenals and will improve Watervliet's ability to compete for military contracts."

"This is the best news in years for the Arsenal. The core mission at Watervliet is the production of large caliber cannon barrels. This funding allows the Arsenal to compete head-to-head with other major defense contractors," McNulty said. "The Arsenal is the only facility in the United States capable of producing these large caliber barrels. By retaining the capability to produce domestically, an integral component of our national defense infrastructure is not lost to foreign competitors."

"This is an opportunity fort the Arsenal to continue to seek additional workload. Preserving jobs in the Capital District is the number one priority - improving the long-term stability of the Watervliet Arsenal is one of the best ways to ensure that this occurs," McNulty continued.

In June, Schumer and US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan successfully included an amendment in the Senate version of the bill that increased the amount of money in the Army's underutilized plant- capacity account for arsenals by $11.5 million. This additional funding increased the pool of money that arsenals across the country were eligible to receive and ensured that Watervliet would receive the Army's full funding request of $20.1 million.

In addition, Schumer and Moynihan also announced that Watervliet could benefit from a provision they inserted into the Defense Authorization Bill that would remove plant capacity costs as one of the criteria used by the Defense Department in awarding contracts. Removing this factor helps underutilized arsenals like Watervliet because their high operating costs would no longer keep them from viably competing for new contracts.

The Watervliet Arsenal is the oldest active manufacturing arsenal in the United States. The Arsenal produces thick and thin walled cannon, howitzers, and mortars. In recent years, the Arsenal has provided new and replacement parts for military vehicles, aircraft and ships. Watervliet Arsenal's customers include the U.S. military, foreign governments and private sector companies. As a result of quality management implementation, they demonstrated improvements in all major quality performance metrics over the past five years. They also established a cooperative labor management partnership, and employee grievances have been reduced by 87 percent since 1993 .

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