Warner Applauds Passage of Annual Defense Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today applauded the Senate passage of the final, compromise text of the nation's annual defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill, which includes key Warner-led priorities, previously passed the House, and now awaits the President's signature.

"As the world becomes more dangerous and the technology available to our allies and adversaries alike becomes increasingly more complex, I'm pleased to see the Senate pass this bipartisan legislation," said Sen. Warner. "This legislation will strengthen our military, provide greater support to servicemembers, bolster our technological capabilities, and address challenges across the globe."

For the Commonwealth, this bill:

1. Authorizes more than $935 million for 14 military construction projects across the Commonwealth, which Senator Warner advocated for with the Armed Services Committee. This includes:<_u13a_p>
2. 1. $380 million for a Public-Private housing project at Naval Station Norfolk<_u13a_p>
   2. $188 million for dry dock modernization at Norfolk Naval Shipyard<_u13a_p>
   3. $24 million for the completion of two Child Development Centers (JEB Little Creek-Ft Story and NS Norfolk), and $15.5 million in funding for the VA National Guard to complete the next stage of their Aircraft Maintenance Hangar project.<_u13a_p>
3. Provides more than $25 billion for Navy shipbuilding - more than $5 billion over the President's budget request.<_u13a_p>
4. Greenlights the procurement of a third Columbia-class submarine, as well as funding for the Virginia-class submarine and aircraft carrier programs.<_u13a_p>
5. Prevents funding from being misused to reduce the workforce at any public shipyard, including Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Senator Warner had successfully pushed conferees for this provision in the final bill.<_u13a_p>
6. Authorizes NASA to reimburse the Town of Chincoteague for expenses related to relocated PFAS contaminated water wells to a safe location. From the late 1970s to 1988, PFAS were used at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. In 2017, NASA detected PFAS in wells used to provide drinking water to the Town of Chincoteague and has since needed to provide the town with drinking water - first from an uncontaminated NASA well and then through a groundwater treatment system that filtered out the PFAS. This provision was championed by Sen. Warner and based off legislation he introduced earlier this year.

For a stronger military, this bill:

1. Authorizes a 3.8 percent pay raise for servicemembers. <_u13a_p>
2. Creates a new Personal Property Management Office, and establishes stricter requirements and oversight mechanisms for any future contract related to the servicemember PCS move process. This builds on Sen. Warner's successful efforts to secure modifications to the military's broken moving system. Sen. Warner previously raised concerns about ongoing delays and confusion, and sounded the alarm about missed pickups, delivery issues and communication difficulties with the military contractor responsible for moves.<_u13a_p>
3. Includes a package of reforms to barracks housing, led by Sen. Warner, which will allow for increased oversight of housing for these servicemembers. These provisions mandate a review of housing quality methodologies, reform those metrics to ensure they accurately reflect the quality of housing, and take steps to standardize methodologies across military services; develop a centralized tracking system for barracks construction needs; and improve a number of reporting requirements aimed at increasing transparency and improving the quality of housing for our servicemembers.<_u13a_p>
4. Makes a number of additional improvements to military housing policy, including increased visibility around dispute resolution payments by landlords, as well as greater transparency requirements around the calculation of housing allowance rates.

To strengthen our nation's technological capabilities, this bill:

1. Includes Warner provisions to support DoD's fielding of advanced nuclear technology. The bill includes provisions that would create an Advanced Nuclear Working Group responsible for accelerating the procurement and use of advanced nuclear capabilities, improving coordination across the Department and federal government to support national security missions and emergent needs. The bill also provides greater authority for DoD to attract and scale private investment in these technologies. Sen. Warner worked with bipartisan colleagues to secure inclusion of these provisions in the Senate bill.<_u13a_p>
2. Requires a strategy to reestablish a credible deterrence against cyberattacks targeting American critical infrastructure using the full spectrum of military operations.<_u13a_p>
3. Requires the establishment of a Biotechnology Management Office, as well as the development of a DoD-wide strategy to enhance the use of biotech products.<_u13a_p>
4. Requires the development of guidelines on the ethical and responsible development and deployment of biotech within DoD.<_u13a_p>
5. Requires DoD to develop a roadmap for the small, unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) industrial base to support existing sUAS programs.<_u13a_p>
6. Requires regular congressional briefings from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) intercepts by the North American Aerospace Defense Command or United States Northern Command.

To bolster our ability to address strategic global challenges, this bill:

1. Prohibits a unilateral reduction in U.S. military force posture in Europe or U.S. relinquishment of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe position until the Secretary of Defense assesses the impact on U.S. and NATO interests and certifies to Congress that such action is in the national interest.<_u13a_p>
2. Prohibits a unilateral reduction in U.S. military posture in the Korean Peninsula or a change in wartime operational control over the Combined Forces Command until the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such action is in the national interest.<_u13a_p>
3. Authorizes $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative and expands the authority to cover combat casualty care and medical equipment.<_u13a_p>
4. Directs DoD to engage with Taiwan to develop a joint program to co-develop and co-produce drone capabilities. It also directs DoD to assess Taiwan's critical digital infrastructure and identify actions to help enable the protection of such infrastructure, consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act.<_u13a_p>
5. Extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) through 2029 and authorizes funding of $400 million.<_u13a_p>
6. Requires the Secretary of Defense to continue to provide intelligence support, including information, intelligence, and imagery collection to the Government of Ukraine.<_u13a_p>
7. Requires an evaluation of the intelligence capabilities of the People's Republic of China and Russia in Cuba.<_u13a_p>
8. Directs DoD to evaluate and, if necessary, improve communication between the U.S. and Mexican militaries during border-related support.

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* High-quality photographs of Sen. Mark R. Warner are available for download here *<_u13a_p>

Photos may be used online and in print, and can be attributed to 'The Office of Sen. Mark R. Warner'<_u13a_p>