WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024. The legislation now needs the President’s signature to become law.
“With the inclusion of $19.5 million to finish the planning and design of phase 5 of the Acquisition Management Complex at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, this year’s military funding advances the role of Southwest Ohio in the broader national security mission,” said Congressman Mike Turner. “This legislation includes the largest pay increase for our troops in over two decades, easing the burden on military families. Additionally, with new threats emerging from the Middle East as well as increased aggression from Russia, China, and Iran, this bill ensures that our armed services capabilities outpace adversary threats to maintain deterrence and international order.”
Congressman Turner Specific FY 2024 NDAA Initiatives:
Investment in the Competitiveness of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base:
- Authorizes $19.5 million for planning and design funding for the Acquisition Management Complex at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
- Acquisition Management Complex Phase V is a 214,200 square feet modern, secure, flexible facility that will consolidate multiple Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) directorates and organizations, streamlining their efficiency. With Wright-Patterson experiencing rapid growth, AFLCMC cannot meet projected acquisition goals for these weapons systems without a significant increase in administrative and secure usable space. While this initial planning and design authorization is $20 million, the project is estimated to cost $198 million.
Overall FY 2024 NDAA Highlights:
Military Service Members and Families:
- Supports a 5.2 percent increase in servicemember basic pay, the largest pay raise in over 20 years.
- Expands reimbursements available to military spouses for relicensing or business costs when servicemembers transfer locations.
- Extends military recruitment and retention bonuses and special pay authorities.
- Ensures members of the National Guard and Reserve are reimbursed for all housing costs during military training.
- Expands the in-home childcare pilot program and childcare capacity by partnering with off-installation childcare providers to focus on more rural areas.
- Requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to identify locations where there is known contamination of drinking water systems on military installations and develop detailed plans to remediate and cleanup these sites.
Healthcare:
- Strengthens oversight of TRICARE pharmacy program.
- Waives fees and copays on the TRICARE Dental Program for all members of the Selected Reserve.
- Prohibits cuts in reimbursement rates for providers of applied behavior analysis for the treatment of autism.
- Expands cardiac care pilot program to provide electrocardiograms to all individuals entering.
Technological Innovation and Industry:
- Improves partnership intermediary agreements to allow DoD labs to transfer technologies from academia or industry into DoD labs.
- Authorizes contributions to NATO’s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) – a technology incubator designed to facilitate the acquisition of emerging technologies more rapidly.
- Establishes the Office of Strategic Capital and a pilot program to give loans for specific emerging technologies that are foundational to technologies’ the warfighter will need.
- Creates a technology transition pilot in the Air Force to commercialize technologies more easily.
- Creates the Principal Transition Advisor in each military service to help facilitate the transition of technologies from industry and academia into capabilities and technologies for the warfighter.
Foreign Policy and National Security:
- Directs the Secretary of Defense to report on potential enhancements to U.S. and Allied air and missile defense capabilities that could contribute to NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD).
- Removes outdated policy limitations preventing missile defenses from being oriented against threats to the homeland from near-peer adversaries such as China.
- Prohibits the DoD from reducing the number of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles below 400 or reducing the responsiveness or alert status of the arsenal.
- Requires DoD to assess the joint U.S.-Taiwan production of weapons systems and munitions.
- Requires U.S. Central Command to engage in regular, joint, and interoperable exercises with Israel to practice and simulate coalition strike, refueling, and other missions.
- Extends the authority for DoD to transfer precision-guided munitions to Israel and requires an assessment of Israel’s precision guided munition needs.