WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate voted 84-13 in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, and it now heads to the President’s desk.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), helped co-author and shepherd the defense bill through Congress.  Reed says he hopes the strong, bipartisan approval of the approximately $732 billion NDAA will dissuade President Trump from carrying out his veto threat.  President Trump recently tweeted that he will torpedo the bill unless Congress meets his demand to add extraneous language repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which relates to legal protections for social media companies and has nothing to do with national defense.

“We worked on this bill for months, and I’m pleased Congress passed it with a strong, veto-proof majority.  Now it’s up to President Trump to do the right thing and sign it into law.  If he insists on trying to use our troops as pawns in his war on social media companies it could needlessly disrupt military programs and operations.  President Trump should refrain from blocking a raise for our troops because he is unhappy with what is trending on Twitter,” said Senator Reed.  “Efforts to revise Section 230 should start with thoughtful debate in the committees of jurisdiction, not a last-minute attempt to airdrop it into the NDAA.  Today, lawmakers from both parties came together with a very clear message: the common good and common defense of our nation must come first, and the military should be properly equipped and funded.  If President Trump attempts to put his own narrow self-interest above the nation’s, then I hope Congress will override his veto.”

The bipartisan FY 2021 NDAA defense policy bill authorizes $635.5 billion for the base budget of the Department of Defense, along with $69 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations and $26.6 billion for national security programs of the U.S. Department of Energy.  A summary of the NDAA is available here.

The bill was approved 335-78-1 by the full U.S. House of Representatives on December 8.

Senator Reed worked on the bill with SASC Chairman James Inhofe (R-OK), and U.S. Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).  This year’s defense bill is named in honor of the retiring Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and is officially known as the William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

“I really want to commend Chairman Inhofe and Chairman Smith for their bipartisan leadership and salute our outgoing colleague, Ranking Member Mac Thornberry.  Their wisdom, work ethic, and dedication to the men and women of the Armed Services produced a strong, effective NDAA that will strengthen military readiness and defense capabilities, protect our forces and their families, and support the defense industrial base,” said Senator Reed.

The FY 2021 NDAA authorizes a three percent across-the-board pay raise for all service members and expands civilian federal employees’ access to paid leave benefits.  It includes the Reed-backed Pacific Deterrence Initiative, which strengthens the U.S. posture and alliances in the Indo-Pacific region and will make the Pentagon less dependent on Chinese manufacturing.  It also includes language Senator Reed championed establishing a thoughtful process to rename bases that are currently named after Confederate individuals.  The bill also contains a number of provisions aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion within the Department of Defense and the military services.  And it requires the Pentagon to develop a strategy for pandemic preparedness and response, maintain a 30-day supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), and have the capability to resupply such equipment rapidly and review the Military Health System’s response to COVID-19.

Senator Reed also successfully led the effort to ensure the bill continues the construction of two Virginia-class submarines per year, as well as multi-ship contract authority for up to two Columbia-class submarines.  These submarines, which are built in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia, are critical to strengthening naval readiness.  Continuing the construction of two Virginia-class submarines per year will ensure steady work at Quonset Point and save taxpayers’ money through efficiencies gained in the production schedule.

To help fund submarine design and construction, the bill authorizes:

  • $6.79 billion for the Virginia-class submarine program, including an additional $2.568 billion for an additional option boat.  The bill supports the nine-boat, multi-year Block V contract that the Navy and Electric Boat signed in December 2019.  The contract included an option for one additional submarine, which this bill fully supports;
  • $4.14 billion to fully support the Columbia-class (Ohio-class Replacement) Program, including an additional $130 million to support stability in the submarine industrial base;
  • $76.4 million for Navy applied research on undersea warfare technologies, led by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), including $10 million, to support Navy and academia submarine partnerships.  The University of Rhode Island has been a leader in these types of academic partnerships.
  • $20 million for workforce and training initiatives to support the production of the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and the continued construction of the Virginia-class submarine;

“The NDAA authorizes funds needed to build the next generation of submarines, which are a vital part of America’s nuclear triad and which are essential for power projection, deterrence, intelligence, and sea control,” said Senator Reed.  “Sustaining the two-a-year build rate is a smart investment that bolsters national security and benefits Rhode Island while saving taxpayers’ money.  Thousands of Rhode Islanders build the backbones of these boats and provide our nation with a strategic, technological advantage.  This bill means a steady workload at Quonset for years to come.”

The Trump Administration had previously proposed cutting a submarine in the FY 2021 budget, breaking the two-per-year build rate that has been in effect since 2011.

Reed also championed several other key provisions in the bill, including a $50 million authorization of supplemental Impact Aid for school districts with military children, and an additional $20 million for schools serving military children with severe disabilities.  He also included $15 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.  And Reed added a provision to reauthorize and expand the Department of Energy’s EPSCoR program to allow Rhode Island to better access the full range of research opportunities at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The NDAA also includes a provision that will enable more homeless veterans to be eligible for the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, which provides homeless veterans with access to housing and critical supportive services.  And Senator Reed also included a provision that creates a grant program to improve the availability of legal services for veterans and their families.

The NDAA authorizes the expenditure of public funds and then the Appropriations Committee must determine the final level of defense spending.  Senator Reed is also a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Congress has now passed the NDAA for sixty consecutive years.

Once the bill lands on President Trump’s desk, he has ten days (excluding Sundays) to decide whether to sign or veto it.  If President Trump vetoes the bill, it gets sent back to Congress where lawmakers in both chambers would need two-thirds majorities to override the veto and enact the bill into law.