The Hill News

Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) and Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) on Wednesday will announce the formation of a bipartisan caucus that aims to raise awareness for issues affecting defense communities across the country.

David Beltran, Farr’s press secretary, said one of the first priorities of the caucus will be to find savings in the military’s budget by creating partnerships between military bases and the cities that surround them to provide basic functions, including trash pick-up and road maintenance.

“The city can [provide trash pick-up and road maintenance] at lower costs for the installations since they already have expert crews on city staff to do these exact functions,” Beltran said. “That saves the installations money and prevents duplication of services. If we could more generally extend this authority to all installations, that could save millions in the military budget.”

Farr and Jenkins will co-chair the newly formed caucus â€"! which is awaiting approval from the House Administration Committee â€" and are reaching out to members interested in supporting defense communities to join.