With Ciscomani’s Support, Congress Passes Annual Defense Package

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) today voted to pass the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress’ annual defense package. Ciscomani represents two military installations, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) in Tucson and Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, as well as over 70,000 veterans across the district.

“With emboldened adversaries in China, Russia, and Iran, now more than ever we must ensure our country has the most lethal fighting force on the planet,” said Ciscomani. “This year’s NDAA represents a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to invest in our military and ensure they have everything they need to quickly and decisively counter current and future threats. As the representative for Fort Huachuca and DMAFB, I have a deep understanding on just how crucial the annual NDAA is to not only national defense strategy as a whole but also to our men and women in uniform, and their families. From historic pay raises for our troops to provisions that safeguard our military against partisan ideology, the bill’s passage puts our nation on the strongest path to defend our shores and protect democracy across the world.”

The FY2024 NDAA includes a number of critical provisions to our service members and their families:

• Provides crucial Military Construction authorization for Davis Monthan Air Force Base,
• Fully funds the deployment of National Guard to the southwest border,
• Provides our troops with a 5.2% increase in pay, the largest in over 20 years,
• Requires DoD to use or transfer to southwest border states all border wall materials in its possession,
• Authorizes additional funds to build new schools for military children, new family housing, and new military barracks,
• Requires the DoD to identify locations where there is known contamination of drinking water systems on military installations and develop detailed plans to remediate and cleanup these sites,
• Prohibits DoD from working with EcoHealth Alliance on research in China, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and
• Continues to protect servicemembers that decide against taking the COVID-19 vaccine.