Scott Applauds House Passage of Defense Bill

Statement

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, including two amendments offered by Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03).

"This NDAA provides funding for a strong, smart national defense strategy, including an important bipartisan amendment to prohibit federal funds from being used for any military force against Iran without congressional authorization," said Congressman Scott. "This bill provides our servicemembers a pay raise of 3.1 percent and shows strong support for shipbuilding, restores funding for the refueling of the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman, and authorizes funding for the procurement of 11 battle force ships. I was particularly pleased that both of the amendments I offered were adopted. This NDAA will benefit shipbuilding in the Hampton Roads community, take care of servicemembers and their families, and strengthen America's national security."

Text of the NDAA amendments offered by Congressman Scott with his colleagues are available below, along with summaries. These amendments were adopted by voice vote.

Amendment #223-- offered by Congressman Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and cosponsored by Congressman Scott, requires the Navy to evaluate the impacts of suspending the Navy's Accelerated Promotion Program. The Navy must submit a report to Congress on the results of the evaluation by no later than June 1, 2020. Employees at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia were adversely impacted by the Navy's decision to suspend the Accelerated Promotion Program.

Amendment #347-- offered with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress on the status of each of the 91 Government Accountability Office's (GAO) priority recommendations that the Secretary has not yet implemented. If the reasoning for not implementing a recommendation is funding, then the Secretary must provide the estimated cost for such implementation to Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus Alternative Budget, of which Congressman Scott is the lead author, has called on the Defense Department to implement GAO's recommendations in order to root out waste, fraud and abuse to save taxpayers money.

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