SE Texas Times

Washington, D.C. - On July 14, U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (TX-14) voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024, which provides for the needs of servicemembers and their families through a pay increase, improved housing, and access to health care, while equipping our military with the tools and resources to counter the rapidly growing threats from Communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.  The NDAA will also provide much-needed oversight and crackdown on waste, fraud, and abuse, saving taxpayers billions of dollars.

"Congress has a duty and responsibility to provide for our national defense and support the men and women who serve in the United States military," said Rep. Weber. "Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Defense has been funding gender-transition surgeries, abortions, a radical climate change agenda, and radical gender ideology. We are the United States of America, the strongest military force in the world, and it is time we start acting like it. I am proud House Republicans passed the NDAA to strengthen our armed services and ensure our brave men and women defending our freedoms have access to the weapons and resources they need to keep our great nation safe from threats."

NDAA background and provisions:

The annual defense legislation sets priorities and policies for the U.S. armed services. The FY24 NDAA saves taxpayer dollars while improving military readiness, increasing pay for servicemembers, countering aggression from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and making critical investments in the United States’ national defense. The FY24 NDAA provisions include:  

• A 5.2% increase in servicemember pay, the largest increase in 20 years.
• Rejecting the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the Navy.
• Increased funding for innovative new technologies needed to deter the CCP on future battlefields, including AI, autonomous systems, cyber, mobile micronuclear reactors, and high energy lasers.
• Increased funding for military information operations assistance to Indo-Pacific allies to counter Chinese influence operations.
• $240 million to reduce servicemembers out-of-pocket housing expenses to counteract the skyrocketing cost of rent.
• Saves $40 billion in taxpayer dollars – or 5% of current defense spending levels – without sacrificing national security.
• The NDAA also provides a path back to service for 8,000 servicemembers discharged for failing to take the COVID-19 vaccine by:
  • requiring the Secretary of Defense to inform each discharged servicemember of the process they can follow to be reinstated,
  • requiring the Service Secretaries to consider reinstating separated servicemembers at the same rank, and
  • treating the time away from service for any servicemember reinstated as a ‘career intermission’ so it does not impact future promotions.

Original source can be found here.