WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 24-1 to approve the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) to strengthen the U.S. military, safeguard the nation, protect the health of our servicemembers and their families, and bolster America’s defense industrial base.  A summary of the bill is available here.

This legislation, which is led by U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, authorizes $876.8 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

The NDAA is an annual defense bill that authorizes the funding and policies to equip, supply, and train the U.S. military and provide for military families.  Advancing it out of committee is the first major step in a multi-step process.

The FY24 NDAA provides U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians with a 5.2 percent pay raise, the largest increase in decades.  It also bolsters U.S. alliances and partnerships to operate successfully in competition with rival powers, particularly in the Indo-Pacific and Europe.  Notably, the bill takes key steps to reduce dependence on China for raw materials used in defense technologies and authorizes the budget request amount for FY24 and extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2027 to continue supporting Ukraine’s fight to defend its freedom and territorial integrity.

Reed, who also serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, acknowledged that the defense budget topline was set during the debt ceiling debate but that the Congress should consider smart emergency supplemental needs in order to provide additional defense resources.

“Advancing the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act is critical to ensuring we have a strong and effective military.  Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance a bill that makes our country stronger and safer.  It invests in the people, platforms, and programs we need to deter adversaries and safeguard the nation,” said Senator Reed. 

“This year’s markup authorizes $876.8 billion, in keeping with the debt ceiling agreement.  It advances U.S. military capabilities and accelerates modernization.  It targets research, development, and technology investments to provide our forces with major advantages on the battlefield, while also ensuring the U.S. is better equipped to counter disinformation, cyberattacks, and other hybrid threats.  This NDAA includes an historic pay raise for our troops and Defense Department civilians, and provides new tools and reforms to protect the health and well-being of our servicemembers and their families. 

“This bill makes critical investments in the readiness and well-being of our total force —including active duty, reserve, and National Guard servicemembers, defense civilians, and their families.  It also helps address recruiting efforts, as well as threats to critical infrastructure from climate change and hostile foreign actors,” continued Reed.  “Passing the NDAA takes bipartisanship – that means you don’t win everything – and I’m glad that Ranking Member Wicker and our colleagues agree that getting this bill to the Senate floor and ultimately the President’s desk is our paramount responsibility.  Advancing this bill out of the committee on a strong, bipartisan basis is a positive step toward achieving that objective.”

Senator Reed noted the NDAA authorizes over $18 billion in submarine procurement and construction – continuing the two per year procurement cadence of the Virginia-class program and the first tranche of incremental funding for the second boat in the Columbia-class ballistic submarine program.  It also supports DOD activities relating to the security partnership among Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUKUS, and will help facilitate collaboration on nuclear submarine production through the AUKUS partnership.

“This NDAA recognizes the critical contributions that Rhode Island makes to our national defense and continues to invest in enhancing the Navy’s submarine fleet and undersea capabilities,” said Reed.  “It will help strengthen defense manufacturing in Rhode Island for years to come.”

The NDAA also helps provide certainty and stability for the nation’s supply chain and industrial base workforce to move forward with critical programs and acquisitions and keep employees on the job.

A number of Rhode Island-related projects and priorities are included in this bipartisan defense legislation now set to be considered by the Senate, such as:

  • $10.3 billion to fully support construction of two Virginia-class submarines;
  • $5.8 billion to fully support the Columbia-class (Ohio-class Replacement) Program, including $400 million to support stability in the submarine industrial base;
  • $244 million for workforce and training initiatives by the Office of Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment to support the production of the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and the continued construction of Virginia-class submarines;
  • $50 million in supplemental Impact Aid and $30 million in Impact Aid for schools with military dependent children with severe disabilities;
  • $32 million in military construction funding for the RI Army Guard;
  • $61.5 million for Navy applied research on undersea warfare technologies, led by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC);
  • $25 million for the Defense Established Programs to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR), which ensures Rhode Island universities may compete to perform cutting-edge basic research and partner with defense labs;
  • $20 million for the Defense Manufacturing Community Support program, which makes investments in defense manufacturing industrial ecosystems to strengthen the national security industrial base.

In addition, the bill includes several provisions to support small businesses, including language the improves the functioning of the Procurement Technical Assistance Program (PTAP) and the APEX Accelerators; language to improve the timeliness of payments made to DOD small businesses; and updates to the Defense Rapid Innovation Program to support the transition of technologies from small businesses into fielding and use. The bill also includes provisions to allow the Department to better leverage new capital assistance authorities, like loans and loan guarantees, to provide other mechanisms to support small and nontraditional defense contractors.

The NDAA also reflects other priorities backed by Senator Reed to sustain and improve the quality of life for our men and women in uniform and their families.  The bill includes provisions that would modify the calculation of basic allowance for housing (BAH) rates with respect to junior enlisted members by delinking that calculation from specific housing types and provides additional flexibility to ensure equitable housing rates can be calculated in markets with limited housing inventory.

This marks the 63rd consecutive year that the Committee has come together on a bipartisan basis to advance a defense policy bill.

Now that it has been approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the bill can move forward to consideration by the full U.S. Senate.  A separate measure will make its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Once both chambers approve their versions of the bill, they must then be reconciled in a bicameral conference committee, and then passed by each chamber before a final version may be sent to the President to be signed into law.