Rep. Veasey Votes to Keep America Safe, Meet the Needs of Servicemembers and Military Families
WASHINGTON – Rep. Veasey voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation that makes key investments to improve the lives of Servicemembers and military families, while also strengthening our national security to keep America safe. This year's sweeping package also includes Veasey-led provisions that will create and protect existing North Texas jobs in our defense sector, counter extremism in our military, identify best practices that support the health and well-being of our military and their families, and institute pay parity for our guardsmen.
"As a Member of Congress, I have no greater responsibility than to ensure the security of our nation – and that starts with supporting our men and women in uniform," said Rep. Veasey. "With this year's defense funding bill, Democrats secured crucial benefits and protections for our Servicemembers that will make our nation safer and stronger, while also making strong investments in our national defense and in our security interests. I was proud to vote for this bill, which also includes priorities that I have fought for to fund vital national security programs that are essential to our economy in the Metroplex, counter extremism in our Armed Forces, identify best practices that support the health and well-being of our military, and ensure pilots and other specialized personnel in the National Guard are paid fairly for their work."
This is a robust bill that advances a smart, strategic and strong defense, including:
- Providing a pay raise for members of the military by supporting a 2.7 percent increase in military basic pay.
- Meeting our responsibility to our servicemembers and their families by strengthening parental leave for caregiving servicemembers, expands access to child care, improves financial security of low-income military members and those with families members living with a disability, protects military communities from PFAS chemicals and strengthens access to health care including mental health care and reproductive care.
- Taking historic action to combat sexual assault in the military by including reforms such as removing the Commander from key decisions related to sexual assault and related crimes, creating an Office of the Special Trial Counsel within each service, criminalizing sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and improving fairness and transparency across the system.
Protecting our national security by combating our adversaries with new tools to deter aggression from Russia and China and to address transnational threats including terrorism, and supports our allies.
- Modernizing our defenses with robust investments in defense-wide R&D, cybersecurity and AI, so that we can fortify our military's technological advantage. This NDAA also ensures that our military readiness takes into account the challenges of energy resiliency and the climate crisis.
- Honoring our values by building on Congress's bipartisan action in passing Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) legislation to provide for the relocation of our Afghan allies and partners, by requiring the Secretary of Defense to continue to provide in-depth reports and briefings to Congress on the situation in Afghanistan.
A full summary of the provisions of this NDAA has been compiled by the Armed Services Committee.
A summary of the Veasey-led provisions in this NDAA can be found here.