Sessions predicts more jobs at Anniston Army Depot

Sen. Jeff Sessions

Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions held a town hall meeting Wednesday at the Anniston Army Depot, telling of increased spending for equipment refurbished at the facility.

Sessions, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he’s confident that a defense spending bill will pass Congress.

 That bill, he said, will likely include $300 million in extra funding for revamping the Stryker vehicle, which the depot repairs and refurbishes.

Sessions said defense officials want to make the Stryker more lethal, and the threat Russia poses to eastern Europe has brought out support for such changes among policymakers.

Sessions said the Stryker work could mean as many as 132 new jobs in the area.

The senator added that the U.S. government also plans to sell more than 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks, which are also repaired at the depot, to the government of Morocco.

Sessions said Moroccan officials have visited the depot, and he believes they were impressed.

Sessions did say, however, that defense officials plan on reducing the number of active duty military members to less than 500,000 from the current 570,000. Despite the drawdown, Sessions said, defense funding must not decrease as the U.S. deals with crises in Iraq and Syria as well as concerns about Russia invading other countries as it did Ukraine.