Warner, Hampton Roads legislators react to defense bill passage

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia’s legislators are generally pleased with passage of the annual $886.3 billion annual defense bill.

Sen. Mark Warner said the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 would be good for military members in Virginia and around the world.

He said that once President Biden signs the bill, it “will ensure that our military and Department of Defense have what they need to safeguard our national security interests and continue to keep Americans safe.”

Warner said he is hopeful that a bipartisan agreement “is within reach,” while they “reach the consensus needed to fund the government and fulfill our commitment to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.”

Sen. Tim Kaine also praised the bill’s passage, saying it included several of his provisions supporting national security and the state’s defense community. He said his role as a member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee allowed him to help shape the legislation while serving as a member of the conference committee to work out differences in the House of Representatives and the Senate-passed versions of the bill.

“As a member of the Armed Services Committee and senator from one of the most military-connected states,” Kaine said in a statement, “I’m proud of the bipartisan work we’ve done to provide a pay raise for servicemembers, support Virginia’s defense community, fund important projects at Virginia military installations, and help ensure the Navy and Marine Corps have the ships they need to keep us safe.

“The legislation also bolsters our alliances, as it includes my bipartisan bill to prevent any U.S. President from withdrawing from NATO, as well as provisions I secured to support the Australia-U.K-U.S. agreement.”

Kaine’s provision specifically prohibits any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. It was legislation he worked on with Florida Republican Marco Rubio. Kaine’s bill to provide back pay to military officers whose promotions were held up by the holds put on them by Sen. Tommy Tuberville also passed unanimously.

The bill also includes provisions from Kaine that puts more federal attention on fentanyl trafficking by using Pentagon tools such as counter-drug intelligence and involving Mexico as an active partner to deal with it.

Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans also supported the annual defense spending bill.

“I came to Congress on a mission to restore strength in our military,” Kiggans said in a statement, “and this bill takes a big step toward achieving our goal.”

The legislation, among other things, provides servicemembers and the civilian defense workforce the following, according to Warner:

• Authorizes a 5.2% pay raise for military servicemembers and Department of Defense civilian workforce – the largest raise in two decades.

• Improves living conditions for enlisted servicemembers by greenlighting improvements to the quality and oversight of barracks. This provision specifically authorizes the replacement of substandard barracks and establishes new requirements that enlisted housing meet the same basic standards as all other military housing.

• Improves living conditions for junior Navy sailors whose vessels are undergoing an extended maintenance overhaul. This legislation authorizes basic allowance for housing payments that allow these servicemembers to live in commercial housing, rather than aboard the ship.

• Supports more equitable housing rates in markets with limited housing inventory by modifying the calculation of basic allowance for housing rates.

• Allows for additional financial support for servicemembers, by reducing the threshold used to determine high cost-of-living areas for the purpose of providing a cost-of-living allowance to servicemembers assigned to locations in the continental United States.

• Takes a number of steps to address critical childcare shortages and improve availability for military families. To help address the overwhelming demand for childcare, last year Sen. Warner was able to secure $3.5 million in planning & design funding to support two new child development centers at Hampton Roads installations. This bill authorizes $104 million to fund two Child Development Centers, one at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story and one at Naval Station Norfolk.

It also prohibits buying drones from countries that pose a national security concern, such as China. Warner, along with Rep. Bobby Scott (D), introduced the legislation on this measure.

It also authorizes the full budget amount for the European Deterrence Initiative and the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, supports Ukraine in its fight against Russia and supports a partnership with the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom, which Warner said had “a particular relevance” to Virginia’s naval and industrial base infrastructure.

Kiggans, for her part, said her hand is in several elements of the defense bill, including three parts of a bill she introduced to improve sailor mental health. They include:

• Requiring the Secretary of the Navy to provide the committee a briefing on the feasibility of providing additional mental health resources to units with greater than 15 limited duty sailors and on the feasibility of mandatory mental health screenings for limited duty sailors;

• Requiring the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing to the committee on the average number of days it takes for the Department of the Navy to separate with limited duty sailors after it is determined the sailors are medically disqualified and are to be medically separated, and;

• Requiring the Secretary of the Navy to provide a briefing to the committee on its recommended standard operating procedures for responding to multiple suicides in a command.

“I’m incredibly proud to have secured several wins in this year’s NDAA that will directly benefit the servicemembers and military families in Hampton Roads, across the country, and around the world,” Kiggans said. “My provisions in this bill will positively impact our servicemembers’ quality-of-life, increase access to mental healthcare, and explore improvements to our nation’s shipbuilding and ship repair capabilities. As a third-generation veteran, military spouse, and mother to children who serve, I will always be the loudest voice for our military men and women in Congress.”

Kiggans also noted that she secured measures to get a report on the feasibility of expanding TRICARE for Life to put in a benefit for the SilverSneakers program, a report on the status of private housing communities for unaccompanied service members that now exist, or are planned for each service, authorize a feasibility study to allow an adult who is the surviving child or parent of a deceased service member and has received a Gold Star lapel button or Next-of-Kin deceased personnel lapel button access to use commissary stores and base retail facilities.

It also authorizes the Defense Secretary to implement a pilot program to use thermal destruction to dispose of per- and polyfluorinated substances, or PFAS’s. They’re a concern because they don’t break down in the environment, can contaminate drinking water sources and build up in fish and wildlife.

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