Takai Again Supports the National Defense Authorization Act

Statement

Today, Congressman Mark Takai (HI-01) supported the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Conference Report. After months of negotiation between the House and Senate, the report passed the House with bipartisan support with a vote of 270-156.

"I chose to support the NDAA today for the same reasons I supported its passage initially, because of the overwhelmingly positive benefits for Hawaii. My primary responsibility is to the people of Hawaii and I believe that this bill provides considerable federal resources that will be critical to moving our state forward," Takai said.

The NDAA recently came out of a bipartisan conference that included members from both the House and Senate.

"During the House markup of the NDAA, I pushed to include 28 amendments that were important for Hawaii. While not all of the amendments made it into the final conference report unchanged, the final, conferenced version of the bill includes many different provisions I authored. Unfortunately, one of my amendments, a measure that would have restored federal per diem rates for employees and military personnel did not make it into this final version. I am disappointed because this harmful cut to rates means more government and military personnel will have to pay for business costs out of pocket," Takai added.

The conference report of the NDAA is a bill rich with provisions included by Takai that would benefit Hawaii.

Source