WASHINGTON, DC – Each year, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) offers Congress an opportunity to review and shape national security priorities and provide needed resources and reforms for U.S. servicemembers and their families.

Today, under the leadership of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI), the U.S. Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY 2024) National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2226), by a bipartisan vote of 86-11.

Totaling $876.8 billion, in keeping with the debt ceiling agreement, the Senate-passed NDAA authorizes investments in the U.S. Department of Defense and national security programs at the U.S. Department of Energy. 

The NDAA sets defense policy and investment priorities for the next year, including military training and operations, infrastructure construction and maintenance, and research and development programs.  The FY 2024 NDAA also includes a historic 5.2 percent pay raise for U.S. troops and civilians, the largest increase in decades. 

“This NDAA is good news for Rhode Island and a major win for America’s national security.  This forward-looking defense bill will go a long way toward keeping the American people safe, deterring conflict, and confronting the national security threats we face,” said Senator Reed.  “This bipartisan NDAA provides a historic level of support for our troops and their families, including the largest military pay raise in decades.  It authorizes record-level investments in the people, platforms, and programs that our forces need to safeguard the nation and advance U.S. interests worldwide.  This NDAA accelerates U.S. military research, development, and technology investments to provide our forces with advantages on the battlefield, while also ensuring the U.S. is better equipped to counter disinformation, cyberattacks, and other hybrid threats.”

The Senate-passed NDAA bolsters U.S. alliances and partnerships to operate successfully in competition with rival powers, particularly in the Indo-Pacific and Europe.  Notably, the bill makes key progress toward deterring and countering America’s adversaries, including by reducing dependence on China for raw materials used in defense technologies.  The bill also takes steps to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and get tougher on China over its role in producing the synthetic opioid fentanyl by including the Reed-backed FEND off Fentanyl Act.  It extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2027 to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight to defend its freedom and territorial integrity.  And the NDAA improves the ability of the U.S. government to adopt and integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Additional FY 2024 NDAA highlights include:

  • Supports requested funding for the procurement of naval vessels, combat aircraft, armored vehicles, weapon systems, and munitions.
  • Authorizes the full budget request for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) and the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI).
  • 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.
  • Increases pay and helps lower housing, healthcare, and childcare costs for military families.
  • Supports the development of the security partnership among Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States, known as AUKUS.
  • Streamlines the acquisition of defense stocks related to Ukraine and authorizes additional munitions for multiyear procurement contracts.
  • Authorizes improvements to the quality and oversight of military enlisted barracks, including the replacement of substandard barracks.
  • Expands the Department of Defense’s Troops to Teachers program for participating veterans to pursue employment as educators at Job Corps centers.
  • Authorizes significant funding for game-changing technologies like microelectronics, hypersonic weapons, and unmanned aircraft systems.
  • Provides 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.
  • Requires U.S. companies to notify federal agencies of investments in Chinese technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
  • Boosts federal reviews of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland and, in some cases, bars Chinese, Russian, Iranian, or North Korean purchases of U.S. farmland.
  • Boosts efforts to ensure that National Guard members and their families enrolled in TRICARE have timely access to mental and behavioral healthcare services.

Senate passage of the FY 2024 NDAA resulted from months of bipartisan hearings, review, and negotiations between Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS), their colleagues on the Armed Services Committee, and Senate leaders.  During the floor debate, more than 944 amendments were considered, and 121 amendments were adopted – the most amendments adopted to the Senate NDAA in years.

Chairman Reed’s bipartisan approach to passing the NDAA through the Senate stands in sharp contrast to the path taken by the U.S. House of Representatives this year.  The Republican-led House leadership opted to narrowly pass a controversial NDAA with poison-pill, hard-right provisions on a near party line vote.

“I commend every member of the Senate who made a conscious choice to put the best interests of the nation ahead of partisan politics.  Together, we passed a bipartisan bill to make America safer, stronger, and help take better care of our troops and their families,” said Reed.

Hundreds of small businesses across Rhode Island supply the U.S. Department of Defense, and hardworking Rhode Islanders contribute to the creation of a wide range of military products, equipment, and services.  Additionally, Rhode Island is home to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport; Naval Station (NAVSTA) Newport; and the Naval War College.  These facilities, along with leading academic research institutions and a network of suppliers and small businesses, are contributing to a booming defense industry that is boosting Rhode Island’s economy and leading to advancements in technology and innovation.

A recent report by SENEDIA shows that the total direct and indirect economic impact from defense spending in Rhode Island accounted for $7.6 billion in 2022. The report found that Rhode Island’s defense industry is growing and supported a total of 34,068 direct and indirect jobs across the Ocean State with an annual payroll of $3 billion.

Reed highlighted several key provisions of the bill that will benefit Rhode Island’s defense workers and industry, including:

  • $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; and
  • $20 million for the Defense Manufacturing Community Support program, which makes investments in defense manufacturing industrial ecosystems to strengthen the national security industrial base.

Additionally, 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.

Now that both chambers of Congress have approved their versions of the bill, the legislation must be reconciled in a bicameral conference committee.  Chairman Reed will help lead that committee.  Once a final version of the bill is agreed to in conference, it must then be passed by each chamber before being sent to the President to be signed into law.