ST. LOUIS — At a recent campaign stop in the suburbs of St. Louis, reporters asked Republican Sen. Josh Hawley to list his top three accomplishments he felt made him worthy of re-election for a second six-year term.
"We got new housing for our soldiers in Fort Leonard Wood," he replied.
Hawley's campaign routinely repeats this claim in email blasts, social media posts and campaign materials, pointing to sternly worded letters he's written to the Pentagon or to Senate committee hearings where he has questioned military brass about aging housing at the U.S. Army garrison in central Missouri.
But did Hawley actually "secure" $100 million for the construction of those homes as he claims? We dug into the facts to VERIFY.
The question:
Did Sen. Josh Hawley really secure $100 million for military housing at Fort Leonard Wood?
Our sources:
The answer:
No, Hawley did not secure the Fort Leonard Wood funding. In fact, he voted against military construction budgets multiple times.
What we found:
Last December, Sen. Eric Schmitt promoted his vote for the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 and specifically highlighted one line item in that legislation: $50 million for housing at Fort Leonard Wood.
Hawley, however, was one of only a handful of Republicans to vote against the measure.
Former Republican Sen. Jack Danforth helped Hawley get elected in 2018. Danforth said he now regrets it.
"Hawley not only voted against the Defense Authorization Act, he filibustered it," Danforth said. "He felt so strongly against the various components of it — military pay, raise, rebuilding the Navy, rebuilding the artillery, rebuilding the whole defense structure — that he filibustered it. Filibustered! You could vote against it, OK, if you think we don't want to do that much for defense. But filibuster it? No."
In a social media post, Hawley suggested he opposed the 2024 NDAA because it didn't include a separate funding package for increased compensation for victims of radioactive waste. (The debate over restoring and expanding funding for the Radioactive Exposure Compensation Act continues on Capitol Hill in separate legislation). The other half of the $100 million Hawley references dates back to previous budget years where political finger-pointing starts to get a bit murkier.
While Hawley publicly voted against federal and defense budgets in both fiscal years in question, his aides argue his private conversations helped nudge Army officials to speed up their spending decisions.
Hawley's office provided correspondence with U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth on Oct. 5, 2023, where he urges the Pentagon to keep a prior promise to spend $41.4 million to pay for housing construction in fiscal year 2023.
Senate voting records show he voted against both the NDAA and the federal budget in that fiscal year.
In his letter to Wormuth, Hawley threatened to block any upcoming civilian nominations until the Army "invested" the funds in new housing. Hawley's aides said his negotiating tactics pressured the Army to make internal fiscal maneuvers to free up enough money to expedite the construction project. Hawley's office also said the Army used proceeds from another pending property sale to offset the $44.1 million budget expense.
Hawley's aides point to a letter Wormuth wrote to his office three weeks after his threat to block nominees.
"We have worked closely with you and your staff to develop this unprecedented recapitalization effort," she replied. "We have never wavered in our commitment to the Fort Leonard Wood housing project or community. Taking care of every solider and family remains one of the Army's top priorities.”
Hawley would go on to vote against the NDAA for the upcoming fiscal year two months later.
Hawley's office also provided video exchanges in Senate committee hearings where he urges decision makers to expedite the construction of those projects. That rationale did not pass muster for Danforth. The former senator said Hawley does not deserve credit for his words alone when his official actions contradicted them.
In social media posts, Hawley has also blamed the construction delays at military bases on the Biden administration.
However, in 2019 and 2020, it was former President Donald Trump's administration that went to court fighting to defund construction projects at military bases across the country, like housing, day cares and schools to build a border wall instead. While those cuts did not directly impact Fort Leonard Wood at the time, they did add to the national backlog of deferred maintenance at military sites across the country.
We can VERIFY: No, Hawley did not secure $100 million for Fort Leonard Wood's military housing.