Senate Passes S.1390, NDAA Act moves to Conference with the House
On Thursday, the Senate approved its version of the fiscal year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (S.1390) by an overwhelming majority vote of 87 to 7. The bill provides approximately $680 billion for the national security activities of the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.
As approved, the bill contains many important provisions to improve the quality of life for our men and women in uniform, including a 3.4 percent pay raise for active duty troops and an increase in manpower levels for all of the services.
The bill also contains several key NAUS-endorsed amendments: Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) amendment to repeal the SBP/DIC offset; Sen. Chuck Schumer’s amendment to improve military and overseas absentee voting; Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) amendment to provide earlier retirement for Guard and Reserve forces to Sept. 11, 2001; and, Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-NC) amendment to ensure that spouses of active duty military members would be guaranteed to maintain original State of residence, if they choose, for voting purposes.
NAUS also is very pleased to note the addition of an amendment to conduct a study on adding the National D-Day Monument in Bedford, Virginia, to the National Park System. The small town of Bedford had the highest per capita loss of military members killed during the Allied invasion of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944. We applaud Senators Webb and Warner of Virginia for their amendment to honor the “Boys of Bedford.”
Also, a key NAUS-endorsed amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer was added to the bill to ensure that the votes of U.S. troops and other Americans living overseas are counted in upcoming elections. Voting improvements for overseas American voters has been a NAUS goal for more than a decade. Protecting the vote of our deployed troops is the main cause for the establishment this year of the Association of Military and Overseas Voting Rights (AMOVR), which is co-Chaired by NAUS Legislative Director Rick Jones.
One of the highly controversial amendments removed funding in the reported bill for building additional F-22 “Raptor” fighter aircraft. However, after the vote on the F-22 funding, a report from the Pentagon was made public which indicates that the F-35 fighter program, which is intended to meet and fill the nation’s combat aircraft needs, is two years behind schedule. This is most disturbing and NAUS wonders why this report was not made available to legislators and staff while the F-22 debate was ongoing.
Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) successfully added an amendment to the NDAA that helps put service-disabled veteran-run businesses on equal footing in the competition for small business government contracting programs.
The amendment is in response to two GAO decisions released in September 2008 and May 2009 that contradicted a long-standing SBA interpretation that the Agency’s procurement programs should be treated equally when it comes to awarding contracts. The decisions stated that certain programs had preference over all other small business contracting programs. Accordingly, the amendment will provide equity for the SBA’s small business contracting programs. NAUS applauds this action to protect earned benefits.
NAUS is greatly disappointed, however, to see Majority Leader Harry Reid’s amendment to extend concurrent receipt for all medically retired military (Chapter 61s) not given a vote. The Reid amendment was offered but never considered. A similar amendment is already included in the House version of the bill, so it will be part of the upcoming negotiations between the House and Senate aimed to resolve differences in the two bills.
While the House has yet to appoint its conferees, the Senators appointed to the conference committee include: Sens. Levin, Kennedy, Byrd, Lieberman, Reed, Akaka, Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Bayh, Webb, McCaskill, Udall (CO), Hagan, Begich, Burris, McCain, Inhofe, Sessions, Chambliss, Graham, Thune, Martinez, Wicker, Burr, Vitter and Collins.
Before appointing conferees, the Senate renumbered its version of the bill to agree with the House numbered bill. As the bill goes to conference, it will carry the House number, H.R. 2647. This means there are now two different versions of H.R. 2647, the Senate passed version and the House approved version. Differences between the two bill will be ironed out in a conference between the House and Senate.
We encourage you to contact your elected officials and let them know how you feel on the issues contained in the NDAA and any other that affects you. Please use the NAUS CapWiz site to send them email. Your efforts assist us tremendously in working for the important legislation that helps all active duty, retirees, veterans and their families.
contact your congress creatures, that is all Poof
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment