3RD DISTRICT CONGRESSMAN FERGUSON H.R. 2670

 WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) today released the following statement on the passage of H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024, which authorizes $886.3 billion for national defense discretionary programs – an increase of $28 billion over the Fiscal Year 2023 enacted level:

 

“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act hardens America’s industrial base and enhances military readiness to ensure that our modern warfighters are the best equipped and trained in the world”, said Congressman Drew Ferguson. “Along with giving our servicemembers a 5.2% pay raise, the legislation supports our servicemembers and their families, boosts oversight of the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense, and saves taxpayers $40 billion by cutting inefficient programs, obsolete weapons systems, and unnecessary and harmful Pentagon bureaucracy while still investing in a secure defense industrial base and innovative technologies to support our national defense. As threats continue to develop from our adversaries in China and Russia, the NDAA enhances U.S. deterrence and defense posture in the Indo-Pacific region, strengthens military cybersecurity, fully funds the modernization of our nuclear triad and missile defense priorities, accelerates the deployment of advanced radars to counter threats to our homeland, and reaffirms our support to the defense of Taiwan. As a Member of Congress, my most important duty is to provide for our national security, and I am proud to support this legislation that gives the brave men and women of our military the resources necessary to defend our freedom around the world.”

 

Highlights of the legislation:

 

• Supports a 5.2% increase in servicemember basic pay, the largest pay raise in over 20 years.
• Authorizes over $240 million to reduce servicemember out-of-pocket housing expenses and counteract the skyrocketing cost of rent.
• Provides assistance to the 8,000 servicemembers discharged for failing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and gives them a path back to service.
• Strengthens our nuclear posture, improves our missile defense, and accelerates the delivery of hypersonic technology to deter the rapidly expanding Chinese Communist Party and Russian nuclear and hypersonic arsenals.
• Supports rapidly deploying innovative new technologies our warfighters need to prevail on future battlefields.
• Prevents taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions, pushes back on the radical woke ideology being forced on our servicemen and women, and restores the focus of our military on lethality.

 

The bill passed the House by a vote of 219-210.

 

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Congressman Drew Ferguson represents the Third Congressional District of Georgia and serves on the Committee on Ways and Means, the House Budget Committee, and the Joint Economic Committee. On the House Ways and Means Committee, he serves as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security, and is a member of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures – also referred to as the Subcommittee on Tax.