Delgado Priorities Included in House-Passed NDAA

Press Release

Today, a broad bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2021. Rep. Antonio Delgado successfully advocated for the inclusion of two amendments critical to the health and safety of the NY-19 community. The first clarifies that manufacturers must report all PFAS discharges to the EPA under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), even if PFAS comprises less than 1% of a chemical mixture. This will ensure that the federal government has a full understanding of PFAS emissions across the country. Delgado also offered his Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act as an amendment to the NDAA, which was included in the final House-passed legislation. The amendment directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a report on veterans' benefits being received disaggregated by sex and minority group member status. This report would provide the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Congress with the necessary data to better educate those veterans on their entitled benefits and address any disparities in coverage and benefit usage.

"Our brave men and women in uniform sacrifice every day to keep our nation safe and secure. It is imperative that we support our troops, and I am glad to vote for legislation that gives our service members a pay raise, improves military housing measures, and supports our nation's response to the coronavirus," said Rep. Delgado. "This legislation also includes two bipartisan amendments on critical upstate priorities including clean drinking water and ensuring our nation's veterans are using the benefits available to them. I was proud to push for the inclusion of an amendment to ensure manufacturers must report all discharges of PFAS chemicals listed under the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, as well as the Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act, which will allow Congress and the VA to understand the gaps in service for our nation's veterans. I'll keep fighting to make sure these critical priorities become law."

"From day one, Congressman Delgado has been one of our most active members of the Women Veterans Task Force, appointing women to leadership roles on his Veterans Advisory Committee and visiting with VA's women's health practitioners," said Congresswoman Brownley, Chair of the Women Veterans Task Force. "The demographics of the veteran community become increasingly diverse by the day, and we must ensure that every veteran's needs are met. This amendment will identify opportunities to improve equity in access to benefits for minority veterans. I am proud to support this amendment's inclusion in this year's defense bill."

Background on Rep. Delgado's amendments:

Amendment Improving Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Monitoring for PFAS Chemicals

Last year, The FY2020 NDAA included a Delgado provision to require the EPA to add several different kinds of PFAS to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory with a default reporting threshold of 100 lbs. EPA's implementation of the rule has exempted manufacturers from reporting their PFAS discharges if the chemical is below 1% of a mixture. Rep. Delgado's amendment clarifies Congressional intent by closing that loophole, and requires manufacturers to disclose all PFAS discharges over 100 lbs. If signed into law, the provision will ensure that the EPA has a full understanding of where this chemical is being emitted across the country.

Amendment Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act

The 2021 NDAA includes Rep. Delgado's amendment, the Improving Benefits for Underserved Veterans Act, which would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a report regarding veterans who receive benefits under laws administered by the Secretary, disaggregated by sex and minority group member status. This legislation, which Rep. Delgado urged bipartisan support for, would provide the VA and Congress with the data necessary to identify disparities in coverage and benefit usage amongst those groups.

Background on the NDAA legislation:

The FY21 NDAA creates a Pandemic Preparedness and Resilience National Security Fund, directing $1 billion to efforts to proactively increase the country's ability to prepare for and respond to future pandemics. The bill requires the Department of Defense to identify, report on a process, and change the names of all military bases and infrastructure named for individuals who served in the Confederacy within one year and prohibits the public display of the Confederate flag on Department of Defense installations.

The FY21 NDAA authorizes support for a 3.0 percent pay raise, authorizing increased funding to clean up contamination of drinking water on our military bases by PFAS chemicals, continuing to invest in improving the oversight and management of housing for military personnel and their families, making improvements to sexual assault prevention and response programs, and developing several key programs to promote and enhance diversity and inclusion programs in our military.

The bill establishes Chief Diversity Officer reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense as well as establishing a Chief Diversity Officer in each of the military services reporting directly to the Secretary of that service, to include the Coast Guard. The bill also requires the Secretary of Defense to establish a Diversity and Inclusion Council to help develop a strategy to be included in the National Defense Strategy to increase diversity in the military mirroring the US population.

The bill makes corrections to the paid parental leave benefit provided through the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to ensure that the FAA, Department of Veterans Affairs, and certain other civilian employees inadvertently omitted from the legislation receive the paid parental leave benefit.

A summary of the provisions in the FY21 NDAA is available here.

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