WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The U.S. Congress decided Tuesday to lift a freeze on funding for transferring some Marines from Okinawa to Guam, a move that could help an effort to reduce the Japanese island's burden of hosting U.S. forces.
The Armed Services committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives agreed to ensure the passage of bills for the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes an outline of defense budgetary plans.
The act for fiscal 2015, which began Oct. 1, is expected to clear the House this week and the Senate next week, according to congressional sources.
The U.S. and Japanese governments plan to transfer some 4,000 of the 19,000 Marines stationed in the southern Japan island to Guam based on a bilateral agreement, with Japan shouldering up to $2.8 billion of an estimated $8.6 billion cost for the move.
Along with the move, Tokyo and Washington are also working on relocating the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, a major Marine facility in Okinawa, from a populated area to a coastal site.
"We welcome the developments that have taken place in the U.S. Congress," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko said Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo.
The transfer of those Marines to Guam "will ease the burden on Okinawa, for instance in terms of the return of land located south of Kadena (air base), and at the same time maintain the U.S. forces' deterrence capabilities," Seko said. "We will continue to work closely toward an early transfer."
The U.S. Congress had frozen most of the funding under the act for fiscal 2014, questioning the feasibility of the transfer. The Senate had earlier sought to keep the freeze for fiscal 2015.
The committees agreed to set a ceiling of $8.7 billion on the transfer cost.
To address the Senate's concern about the cost, the Defense Department submitted a Marines transfer master plan earlier this year.
Japan and the United States agreed to transfer Marines from Okinawa to Guam and relocate the airfield as part of the U.S. plan to realign military forces in the Asia-Pacific area and bilateral bids to help Okinawa, which already hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
It has already been 18 years since both governments first agreed to relocate the Futenma base in 1996, but there is no sign the project will be implemented soon due to opposition in the local community.
U.S. Congress to approve funds for Marines' move from Okinawa to Guam - 毎日新聞
@SvenSvensonov , @AMDR , @LeveragedBuyout , @F-22Raptor , @gambit
The Armed Services committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives agreed to ensure the passage of bills for the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes an outline of defense budgetary plans.
The act for fiscal 2015, which began Oct. 1, is expected to clear the House this week and the Senate next week, according to congressional sources.
The U.S. and Japanese governments plan to transfer some 4,000 of the 19,000 Marines stationed in the southern Japan island to Guam based on a bilateral agreement, with Japan shouldering up to $2.8 billion of an estimated $8.6 billion cost for the move.
Along with the move, Tokyo and Washington are also working on relocating the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, a major Marine facility in Okinawa, from a populated area to a coastal site.
"We welcome the developments that have taken place in the U.S. Congress," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko said Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo.
The transfer of those Marines to Guam "will ease the burden on Okinawa, for instance in terms of the return of land located south of Kadena (air base), and at the same time maintain the U.S. forces' deterrence capabilities," Seko said. "We will continue to work closely toward an early transfer."
The U.S. Congress had frozen most of the funding under the act for fiscal 2014, questioning the feasibility of the transfer. The Senate had earlier sought to keep the freeze for fiscal 2015.
The committees agreed to set a ceiling of $8.7 billion on the transfer cost.
To address the Senate's concern about the cost, the Defense Department submitted a Marines transfer master plan earlier this year.
Japan and the United States agreed to transfer Marines from Okinawa to Guam and relocate the airfield as part of the U.S. plan to realign military forces in the Asia-Pacific area and bilateral bids to help Okinawa, which already hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
It has already been 18 years since both governments first agreed to relocate the Futenma base in 1996, but there is no sign the project will be implemented soon due to opposition in the local community.
U.S. Congress to approve funds for Marines' move from Okinawa to Guam - 毎日新聞
@SvenSvensonov , @AMDR , @LeveragedBuyout , @F-22Raptor , @gambit
- I don't usually forgo reading articles, I was in a hurry to rant! do that. I was too miffed by the headline! I don't like the plan, but still believe it's just a way for us to twist the arm of Japanese politicians.
