Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Bucks County Courier:
It’s not every day that a 3-year-old gets to help allocate tens of millions of dollars in military funding.
But that happened Thursday for Abby Boyle, daughter of Congressman Brendan Boyle, D-13, of Northeast Philadelphia, when her father let her press the “yes” button on his amendment to set aside $60 million for the nationwide cleanup of perfluorinated compounds around military bases.
The amendment was approved in the House by a vote of 256 to 169 and became one of three PFC amendments successfully attached to the annual military appropriations bill, which passed the full House on Thursday evening.
The efforts are part of an ongoing strategy by representatives and senators from around the country to force the military to do more in response to growing concern about the chemicals. Perfluorinated compounds were ingredients in firefighting foam that was used for decades at military bases across the country. They’re now being found in drinking water, including supplies in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
The amendments that were passed Thursday are just one part of a complex military funding process that promises to be more controversial this year than most. For most amendments to become law — including many of those targeting perfluorinated compounds — they must clear these hurdles: funding in the House and Senate versions of the military appropriations bill; legal authorization in the House and Senate National Defense Authorization Acts; and signatures from the president on all of the bills.
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