HONOLULU -- Hawaii U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is receiving criticism for a provision he made to the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill.

An editorial published by the Washington Post Monday criticized Abercrombie for driving up the cost of a project that will relocate thousands of troops and their dependents from Okinawa to a new base in Guam.

"The housing that we have here is not only built, but it's managed and maintained. The housing that we're talking about in Guam will be built by companies who will then leave and stick us with the bill of maintaining and managing. So, I dispute the fact that it's more expensive," Abercrombie said.

Under Abercrombie's provision, 70 percent of the laborers building the new base must be U.S. citizens and they must be paid at Hawaii's wage rate, which is two to three times higher than in Guam.

The editorial argued that without the provision, the construction would cost just $300 million. The construction costs with Abercrombie's provision is $10 billion, the editorial said, because of the need to provide more infrastructure.