Freshman lawmaker applauds victories on Pentagon budget

U.S. Blake Moore is celebrating his work on the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act which provided an $85 billion windfall for Hill Air Force Base here in Utah's 1sr Congressional District.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan coalition of federal lawmakers – including U.S. Rep. Blake Moore of Utah (R-1st District) — have delivered an early, $85 billion Christmas present to Hill Air Force Base.

On Dec. 8, Moore celebrated the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 by the members of the full U.S. House of Representatives. With a text trimmed to achieve a compromise with Senate appropriators, the $768 billion House legislation included $85 billion to be spent over a period of 10 years deploying the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) at Hill Air Force Base.

This NDAA delivers critical wins for both our national security and Utah’s defense community by reversing the Biden administration’s harmful spending cuts and investing in depot modernization and nuclear deterrence,” according to Moore.

“This will ensure that the U.S. is best positioned against an increasingly aggressive China and a resurgent Russia,” Moore added.

The terms of the new NDAA will also demand that the Pentagon and White House provide accountability for the recent disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During the floor vote on Tuesday, House members overwhelmingly supported the NDAA by a vote of 363-70, with only 19 Republicans and 51 Democrats opposing that legislation.

Veteran Capitol Hill observers acknowledge that the NDAA is a victory for the GOP and a disappointment to progressives.

The bill not only authorizes $25 billion more in defense spending than the $743 billion recommended by President Joe Biden, it also signals conservative victories on numerous culture war issues.

Moore is the only Utah representative now serving on the House Armed Services Committee. He says additional benefits of the NDAA for Hill AFB include full funding of modernization of the Ogden Air Logistics Depot, more flexibility in hiring military veterans and improved supply chain security for printed circuit boards for military systems.

Moore’s staff members on Capitol Hill also applaud provisions NDAA that protect the rights of military service members.

Those include text that protects service members’ 2nd Amendment rights by denying judges the authority to issue ex parte protective orders that prohibit firearm possession; removal of requirements for young women to register for the U.S. Selective Service; and removal of requirements for defense contractors to pay employees a $15 minimum wage.

The legislation also bars the Department of Defense from dishonorably discharging service members who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and requires the Pentagon to establish COVID-19 exemption criteria on administrative, medical or religious grounds.

In the most stinging rebuke to congressional progressives, the NDAA shuts down their efforts to establish an Office of Extremism within the Pentagon’s bureaucracy. Because Democrats accepted rumors that service members participated in the Capital Hill riot on Jan. 6, they urged that political extremist become an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But the NDAA denies the Pentagon authority to take steps to counter extremism or develop training programs on extremism.

“I’m extremely proud of the countless hours my team, (the House Armed Services) committee staff and my HASC colleagues put into this bill over the last 12 months,” Moore explained. “The removal of 2nd Amendment restrictions, female draft requirements and heavy-handed vaccine mandates in the final bill demonstrated that the legislative process can still be trusted.

“I urge my Senate colleagues to rapidly move this legislation so that it can be signed into law and give our service members the assistance they need to keep Americans safe.”

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