U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) announced that Fort McCoy’s Access Control Point and Mail/Freight Center project was added to the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Plan (FYDP) in the defense bill recently signed by President Barack Obama.

Fort McCoy now has approval to begin construction on the project, which will improve the base’s mail and freight mission capacity.

“This is terrific news for the soldiers, their families and the base employees at Fort McCoy,” said Kind. “Even in the face of tough fiscal constraints, we should never balance our budgets on the backs of the brave men and women who serve our country. This project will help ensure they have the best training possible in safe, up-to-date facilities.”

With more than 125,000 troops training on site in the last year, Fort McCoy is the Midwest’s premier training facility for U.S. military personnel.

Kind said it was unfortunate that there was an oversight in the fiscal year 2014 budget and Fort McCoy was unable to begin work on their Access Control Point and Mail/Freight Center. The $17.5 million project was included in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget request but was not included in the final bill.