Voting For A Well-deserved Pay Raise For Our Troops In The Defense Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week Congressman Rodney Davis voted in support of the defense budget, which is formally known as the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is annual legislation that funds our military.

"A vote for this NDAA gives a pay raise for our troops, funds military facilities like Scott Air Force Base, and places restraints on President Biden‘s ability to reshape our military, while forcing his administration to account for their disastrous retreat from Afghanistan. A vote against this NDAA does the opposite and amounts to defunding our military," said Davis.

"We must never allow our military to be defunded, which is what some members of Congress want. President Biden and some Democrats in Congress attempted to use this year’s NDAA to cut defense spending and reshape our military according to their progressive worldview. Fortunately, the House rejected their misguided attempts and passed a strong defense budget."

Here are some highlights of what defense programs and policies are included in this year's defense budget:

Defense funding provisions in the NDAA:

• Includes a $25 billion dollar increase for defense funding, a 5% increase over FY21.
• Reverses President Biden’s proposed reckless defense budget cuts, restoring funding for shipbuilding, procurement, and missile defense.
• 2.7% pay increase for troops.
• Continues funding for the deployment of National Guard to the border and reauthorizes authority for DoD to support U.S. law enforcement counter-narcotic and counter-transnational crime efforts.
• Authorizes $250 million to conduct counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan and prohibits DoD from providing any financial support to the Taliban.

Defense policies included in the NDAA:

• Protects servicemembers from being disciplined for voicing political opinions on social media.
• Prohibits the DoD from dishonorably discharging servicemembers who decline the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The NDAA requires DoD to establish uniform standards under which servicemembers may be exempted from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine for administrative, medical, or religious reasons.
• Holds the Biden Administration accountable for its failure in Afghanistan
• Requires the DoD to produce a plan on how it will evacuate American citizens remaining in Afghanistan and how it will conduct counter-terrorism operations.
• Requires reports to Congress on the number of Americans remaining in Afghanistan, the equipment left behind, the terrorist threats now in Afghanistan, and the impact of the military’s withdrawal from Bagram Air Base.

Provisions that were NOT included in the NDAA:

• “Red Flag” laws – the NDAA no longer contains a provision allowing judges to issue ex parte protective orders that prohibit firearm possession.
• Requirement For Women to Register for the Draft – the NDAA no longer includes a provision requiring women to register for the Selective Service.

The NDAA also includes a project request Rep. Darin LaHood and Rep. Davis jointly made for the 183d Wing of the Illinois National Guard based in Springfield. The funding would be used to construct a base civil engineer complex. The project was requested by Illinois National Guard Adjutant General Major General Richard Neely and has the approval of the Department of Defense.

"Our troops here in central Illinois deserve to have a proper facility to meet their maintenance and preparedness needs. This project would support their important mission," said Davis.

Learn more about the NDAA here. Read more about the 183d Air Wing base project here.

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