Senate committee hears proposal to restore $1 million base enhancement grant for Minot, Grand Forks and Fargo

A proposed amendment to the Department of Commerce budget that would restore a $1 million biennial base enhancement grant drew testimony Wednesday from military-community advocates but received no formal action.

The amendment — presented to the Government Operations Division of the Senate Appropriations Committee as the “Burkhart Amendment” — would allocate $600,000 to Minot, $250,000 to Grand Forks and $150,000 to Fargo to support community programs that assist nearby military installations.

The proposal matters to the state’s economy and to communities that host large military installations. “Minot Air Force Base, for example, is over half of the state’s military economic impact,” said Brecka Kramer, president and CEO of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council, during testimony. Kramer said the state’s annual military-related economic impact is about $1.2 billion and about $2.4 billion for the biennium, numbers that she said reflect direct and indirect jobs and local spending.

Kramer described how the earlier program, passed last session and referred to in testimony as the Base Retention Grant Program, distributed a one-time $1 million appropriation among the three communities and required six-month reporting to the Department of Commerce. She said the program’s reporting requirements have since been made more prescriptive, requiring a strategic plan be approved and semiannual reports on how funds were allocated and what was achieved.

Kramer told senators the communities propose using the restored funds for advocacy, recruitment efforts, community programs, quality-of-life projects and studies tied to base encroachment and readiness. “We have been challenged by Gen. Boussier, who is the four‑star general in charge of Air Force Global Strike Command, to lean in and support and advocate for nuclear deterrence,” Kramer said, describing why Minot seeks state support ahead of the Department of Defense’s Sentinel modernization project.

Kramer said Sentinel — a DOD modernization to replace intercontinental ballistic missiles — was paused for review by Congress in January but was later cleared to proceed in July, and that the communities are tracking related off‑base construction in excess of $4 billion. She said the Sentinel work could bring an influx of several thousand workers for construction and related activity.

Senator Sickler noted that Grand Forks used prior grant funds to begin studies on base encroachment and that a separate Senate bill is drawing from that work. “Part of the funds last time … were used to start to study some of these base encroachment issues,” Sickler said. Kramer and others told the committee the communities also raise private funds and host events such as a nuclear triad symposium to support advocacy efforts.

Senator Dwyer and other committee members asked about gaps in funding during prior biennia and whether COVID or procurement timing affected earlier support. Kramer said local and private efforts continued during funding gaps but that the reinstated program and improved Commerce reporting helped the communities better plan strategically.

The committee did not vote on the amendment at Wednesday’s brief session; members recessed until the afternoon and said the Commerce budget and related amendments would likely be taken up later. Chairman (name as recorded variably in the transcript) told those testifying the committee would consider the amendment along with other Commerce budget changes before final action.

No formal motion or recorded vote on the Burkhart Amendment was made during the period covered by the transcript. Committee members and advocates said they were willing to provide formal testimony at a later hearing.