Spending bill would ship $2 million to Ravenna Arsenal

The U.S. House approved a spending bill that includes $2 million to build a new shoothouse at the Ravenna Arsenal.

The bill must also be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president.

“I believe that the Ravenna Arsenal can be one of the premier training facilities in the country,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, who was able to put the $2 million for the facility into the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill.

The Ohio National Guard wants to turn the arsenal into a full-scale pre-mobilization training center that would allow Ohio soldiers to train there rather than having them sent to Indiana or Michigan.

The shoothouse would allow the guard to train more than 1,000 soldiers annually there.

Ryan, a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, was able to get $4.5 million in federal funding in recent years for sewer lines and to rehabilitate buildings at the arsenal.