WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement after voting to pass the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) out of the House of Representatives.
“This year’s NDAA authorizes more than $50 million for projects at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and delivers a much-need pay increase with significant quality of life improvements to support Ohio’s dedicated servicemembers,” said Congressman Mike Turner. “The work done at Wright-Patterson is critical to safeguarding our national interests and assisting in the security of our allies. As our adversaries continue to expand their capabilities, the United States must make certain that our Armed Forces and defense industrial base are properly equipped to address increasing threats.”
“I thank Congressman Mike Turner for his continued advocacy to bolster our national security. I also want to recognize his hard work on behalf of the men and women who serve at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers. “Thanks to Congressman Turner’s leadership, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 will improve the quality of life for servicemembers across Ohio and will continue efforts to strengthen our military and deter our adversaries.”
FY 2025 NDAA Highlights
- Authorizes $45 million for construction of the Human Performance Wing Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
- Authorizes $9 million in planning and design funding for the Advanced Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
- Increases Air Force Base Support to modernize installation law enforcement operations and physical security protection and services.
Military Service Members and Families:
- Increases basic pay for junior enlisted servicemembers by 15 percent.
- Ensures the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) covers 100 percent of the calculated rate for the military housing area (MHA) and reduce errors in BAH calculations.
- Reevaluates the current calculation for BAS to make BAS a realistic allowance for service member household subsistence.
- Makes the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) available to servicemembers with dependents with a gross household income less than 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines.
- Permanently authorizes the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot which provides employment support to military spouses through a paid fellowship with employers across various industries.
- Permanently grants authority to the Department of Defense to make transferring professional licenses between states easier for military spouses.
- Expands eligibility for DoD Child Development Programs — both on and off-installation — for unemployed military spouses who are actively seeking employment.
- Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to establish a 5-year pilot program that expands qualifying life event under the TRICARE program to include pregnancy, allowing dependents of servicemembers to switch TRICARE plans at pregnancy.
- Requires the Military Advisory Panel to make recommendations on updating the Uniform Code of Military Justice to ensure it covers nonconsensual distribution of artificial intelligence or digitally manipulated images.
- Directs the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD P&R) to submit a report to HASC on the procedures governing administrative separation of military personnel accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct offenses.
- Supports the habitability of military housing by requiring DOD research and minimum habitability standards for mold in military barracks.
- Requires a report on a military construction strategy for a sufficient number of child development centers as necessary to eliminate wait lists for members of the Armed Forces seeking childcare at child development centers.
- Creates a database to track Servicemembers' training, making this information accessible to states and employers to meet civilian licensing and certification requirements, and ensures Servicemembers receive a competency report before transitioning to civilian life.
Healthcare:
- Requires the Defense Health Agency (DHA) to submit a report on providing access to care data for all healthcare services available at each MTF with inpatient capabilities to have a better picture of where issues exist.
- Directs DHA to establish an access to care standard for beneficiaries who receive urgent referrals for specialty behavioral healthcare appointments.
- Expands access to specialty providers.
- Reevaluates hiring and retention authorities available for civilian medical providers.
- Requires the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the accessibility of mental health care providers and services for members of the Armed Forces serving on active duty.
- Requires an assessment of the health care system supporting certain military installations in order to ensure adequate health care for the civilian and military workforce.
Technological Innovation and Industry:
- Fully funds the modernization of our aging nuclear triad and nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) architecture.
- Fully funds the construction of new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
- Furthers the development and provides for the deployment of AI, quantum computing, and autonomous systems.
- Establishes new mechanisms to expedite the deployment and integration of new warfighting technologies into the joint force.
- Authorizes essential military construction projects to support and defend our servicemembers and projection forces.
- Enhances the use of Partnership Intermediary Agreements (PIAs) to accelerate the transition of technologies from the defense laboratories to the private sector.
- Increases funding to strengthen and expand STEM education opportunities and workforce initiatives targeted at military students.
Foreign Policy and National Security:
- Asks the National Nuclear Security Agency for an Assessment on the impacts of detonation of a nuclear weapon in space.
- Prohibits the use of funds to provide strategic nuclear information to the Russian Federation under the New START Treaty.
- Requires the Secretary of Defense to establish a common coalition key within the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for purposes of sharing ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
- Ensures none of the funds authorized to the Department of Defense may be made available directly or indirectly to the Government of Iran.
Preventing CCP Espionage:
- Protects laboratories that test U.S. military equipment from Chinese espionage.
- Enhances the Army’s ability to identify and arrest spies in its ranks.
- Removes China from the defense supply chain.
- Revokes the security clearances for retired or separated civilian and/or military Department of Defense personnel that engage in lobbying for certain Chinese companies.
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