Sorensen Votes to Invest in Illinois’ Servicemembers

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Eric Sorensen (IL-17), member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted to pass the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) out of committee. These bill supports national security, manufacturing, innovation, and good-paying jobs in Peoria and the Quad Cities. Additionally, Sorensen helped to increase pay for servicemembers, expand access to childcare for military families, invest in technology to improve weather forecasting. Next, the full House of Representatives will have to vote on the NDAA.

"I worked across the aisle to craft a National Defense Authorization Act that invests in Rock Island Arsenal, the Peoria Air National Guard, and our servicemembers. While this bill was far from perfect, I voted to send it to the full House of Representatives because it is critical to supporting our men and women in uniform," said Congressman Eric Sorensen. "I will continue to work as a member of the House Armed Services Committee to rein in Trump and Hegseth's costly war in the Middle East and prevent them from using our troops for political gain."

Read more how Sorensen is delivering for Rock Island Arsenal and the Peoria Air National Guard.

The FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act protects civilian workers at Rock Island Arsenal by:

• Banning a hiring freeze on arsenal and depot workers, school and childcare staff, healthcare workers, public safety personnel, and fire and safety positions on installations
  
• Limiting funding from being used to implement President Trump's collective bargaining ban

The bill invests in weather readiness and research by:

• Mandating that the Department of Defense look at their emergency notification process and how they dissemination during severe weather events
  
• Requiring the Department to look at how resilient their grid is to weather disasters to ensure military readiness is not impacted
  
• Ordering the Department to expand weather efforts in the Arctic
  
• Requiring the Department to look at how our adversaries and allies are building their foreign weather modification capabilities and what we should be doing to keep pace
  
• Instructing the Department to examine how to better bring in and utilize commercial space-based environmental monitoring data, which is critical for having reliable weather data

The bill supports servicemembers and civilian Department of Defense workers by:

• Authorizing a 3.6% pay raise for all military personnel, with a 7% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers
  
• Establishing competitive pay for childcare employees and more flexibility on childcare coverage to allow families to save more money

The bill reins in Trump and Hegseth by:

• Limiting President Trump's ability to turn on our allies by reducing our presence in Europe or the Korean peninsula
  
• Withholding most of Secretary Hegseth's travel budget until he properly reports execute orders to Congress as he is mandated to

Congressman Eric Sorensen represents Illinois' 17th District in the United States House of Representatives. Prior to serving in Congress, Sorensen was a local meteorologist in Rockford and the Quad Cities for more than 20 years. His district includes Illinois' Quad Cities, Rockford, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal.

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