Sen. Mitt Romney says defense bill brings Salt Lake City ‘one step closer’ to having a passport office
On Thursday, Congress passed a defense bill that included some provisions included by Sen. Mitt Romney for national security and Utah.
The sprawling bill, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, includes $886 billion for defense needs for the next year, and includes the largest pay increase for service members over the past two decades. President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law.
Compared to last year, the bill increases national defense funding by $28 billion, per CNN. Before the bill passed, it went through several different iterations before a bipartisan consensus was reached.
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“This important legislation not only authorizes a 5.2% pay increase for service members and civilian employees ... but directly invests in America’s national security and military power projection to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Thursday.
In addition to the pay raise, the bill increases family separation allowance and excludes basic allowance from gross household income to determine eligibility for Basic Needs allowance.
The bill also “directs hundreds of millions of dollars toward sending weapons to Ukraine and Israel,” per The New York Times.
More specifically, the bill is expected to authorize $300 million to Ukraine which has been fighting Russia for nearly two years. The Wall Street Journal reported that the bill now includes “a requirement that the U.S. Air Force teaches Israeli troops how to fly an air refueling tanker.”
“After months of negotiation by my colleagues on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, I am pleased we are able to get the final version of this year’s defense bill through the finish line,” Romney said. “With the growing threats we face, it is paramount that our military has the resources, equipment, and capabilities it needs to keep our nation safe. This bipartisan and bicameral legislation strengthens our national security and supports our servicemembers at this critical time.”
The provisions Romney added to the bill include improving passport services for Utahns, supporting Dugway Proving Ground, promoting military service, an updated version of the American Security Drone Act as well as the Black Sea Security Act and measures to protect the U.S. from growing foreign threats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said, per The Wall Street Journal, that the bill “will strengthen our national security against adversaries like China and Russia, and support our service members.”
The bill also authorizes new military construction projects at Hill Air Force Base, aimed at supporting training facilities and F-35 maintenance facilities.
“The annual defense bill includes provisions I fought for to protect the United States against growing threats from China and Russia by modernizing our nuclear-triad, providing better understanding of the true extent of China’s defense-industrial complex, and bolstering our domestic critical mineral capabilities to reduce our dependence on adversaries,” Romney said in a press release.
Romney continued by saying that the legislation “includes measures which will bolster Utah’s role in our national defense and help address the current military recruitment crisis.”
Romney said this legislation brings Salt Lake City “one step closer” to having a passport agency.
“Passport demand in Utah is enormous, due in part to our robust trade and missionary service. Proud my provisions to improve Utahns’ access to consular services and help bring a passport agency in Salt Lake City were included in the defense bill,” Romney said on X.
The bill is being touted as a bipartisan compromise.
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Additionally, the bill includes a short-term extension of Section 702, which, according to CNN, “enables the U.S. government to obtain intelligence by collecting communications records of foreign persons based overseas who are using U.S.-based communications services.” The inclusion of this extension sparked controversy.
Some measures like a House provision that would have made it so the Department of Defense could not pay for service members to travel to different states to receive abortions were cut from the bill before it passed, per The Wall Street Journal.
“The truth is, the bulk of the bill has nothing to do with the social policy reforms that our conference is concerned about ... but there’s some things that you just can’t reconcile between a divided Congress,” Rep. Mike Rogers, leader of the House’s Armed Services Committee, said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
