By Congressman Steve Knight (R-Antelope Valley)
In the early hours of the morning on April 30, after a full day of debate and deliberation, the House Armed Services Committee passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016.
This bill authorizes the budgets and expenditures for national defense programs in the upcoming fiscal year, and is essential to keep Americans safe at home and overseas. I am proud of the legislation we passed out of committee because it not only gives our men and women in uniform the resources they need to protect our country, but it also does a great deal to benefit the communities I represent.
This year’s NDAA is very supportive of our troops, something I have stressed every step of the way.
It provides a 2.3 percent pay raise for active duty service members and creates portable 401k-like retirement plan for all members to ensure that our men and women in uniform can provide for themselves and their families far into the future.
Additionally, it retains a housing allowance for troops who live off base, maintains funding for commissaries, and increases financial literacy training so that service members can maintain a good quality of life that they desire and deserve.
It also aims to improve collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to better support service members’ transition to civilian life so that as veterans they are able to receive the care they deserve after service.
The NDAA is also helpful for small businesses. It includes several provisions that would reform the defense procurement and contracting process at the Department of Defense so that smaller companies can be more competitive.
One provision happens to be a bill I authored, H.R. 1390- the Small Business Joint Venturing Act. It would give small businesses a better chance to compete for federal contracts by allowing them to form joint ventures and work together while maintaining their small business status.
Currently in the 25th District, we have around 450 small firms actively seeking federal government contracts and this bill will help them to compete with larger firms. I am excited that our national defense policy will be mindful of helping small businesses and strengthening our industrial base.
This Act also has several pieces that are helpful for our communities. Most notably, it would help revitalize our region’s legendary aerospace manufacturing sector by creating jobs for the numerous local companies in our district that build aircraft components for many platforms. For example, it would add 57 new F-35 aircraft and a new MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aerial System, both of which are built in part in the Santa Clarita Valley and the Antelope Valley.
It also supports the upcoming Long Range Strike Bomber that will have a substantial economic impact on our region. All of these provisions will help our communities, our economy, and our military.
The National Defense Authorization Act for 2016 will be considered on the House floor. I hope that my colleagues in Congress recognize its importance to our service members, small businesses, and everyday citizens.
Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution lists 17 separate powers that are granted to the Congress, six of which deal exclusively with the national defense. Without a strong national defense, our way of life becomes threatened and our enemies become emboldened. That is why I believe this Defense Authorization bill provides for our military and ensures our strength in the world.
Representative Steve Knight, (R-Antelope Valley), represents California’s 25th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, which includes the communities throughout the Antelope, Santa Clarita and Simi Valleys.
–
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The AV Times.
Spencer Horne says
Way to much power. This town all ready has way to much illegal spying activity that’s going on. The government is to powerful as it is. Its sad when the good people get attacked and missed with by the government call me crazy but i’m living prove. All i got to say is becareful lancaster. Something big’s coming i worry about this town. Question everything you see. And be cause there’s a lot of framing going on right now.
ROBROROB says
This is terrible. The NDAA? Does this monster Knight know what he’s done? Read up on the NDAA and the absolute powers it gives Obama or any president after him, and you will freak out. It is an insane power transfer to the government. It will make the hairs on your back stand up when you find out about what this does, so please if you don’t know what it is look it up and read several sources. Anyone one for the NDAA is an enemy of the America Citizen.
Tim Scott says
Rather than “read several sources” why not just look at the bill itself? It’s a funding bill. Like most funding bills it is hundreds of pages of “okay, buy that,” “no, you can’t buy that,” and “”hmmm, shop a bit and see what that would cost.” Also like most funding bills, it is pretty much just a rehash of last year’s funding bill.
If you can point to any specifics to support your claims, please do, but at first blush I would classify them as “wild alarmism.” Catchy phrases like “absolute powers it gives Obama” and “insane power transfer to the government” need some backing up.
The only thing I could see in the bill itself that anyone could stretch remotely in that direction is that it changes numerous reporting requirements from “send to congress always” to “have available for congressional review.” A nut job alarmist could take that as “turning loose control of the Pentagon.” But in reality it is just an effort to redirect manpower from the endless production of reports that the Pentagon suspects and congress KNOWS that they never bother to read. When there is something that really merits attention congress can look into it just the same, and it is entirely likely that the Pentagon can prepare an up to date report faster than congress can find their copy of the most recent monthly report in the giant “to be filed” bin anyway.
I thought it was ridiculous when Petey-boy made such a big deal out of a routine yearly function, and unless you can come up with something concrete I feel much the same now.
Ryan Hunt says
Thank you Representative Steve Knight for helping put this bill together, especially being mindful of our local small business es need to be able to compete with the big boys so that they can, too, someday be big boys…and girls. I trust somewhere in that bill is an allocation of resources for our homeless veterans and better expedited medical and psychological assistance to veterans in need of such, which you do mention in regards to the later.