Congressman Kim Votes to Pass National Defense Authorization Act Through Committee, Delivering Wins for New Jersey

Press Release

Washington, DC -- Early this morning, Congressman Andy Kim voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 through the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman Kim worked to secure historic investments in technology, innovation, and future technologies to prepare for the unprecedented challenges facing our nation while recognizing the sacrifices our military members and their families make through a significant pay raise for all military servicemembers.

The bill passed through committee with a bipartisan vote of 57-2.

"The last place partisan politics belongs is in discussions about our national security, and I'm proud to have worked with colleagues in both parties to achieve significant wins for our servicemembers, their families, and New Jersey," said Congressman Kim. "From providing billions of dollars to create new jobs and support small businesses in Burlington and Ocean Counties, to achieving a pay raise for all military servicemembers, to major investments in DoD climate research, I'm proud to have worked in a bipartisan way to get these priorities passed."

The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2022 passed through the House Committee on Armed Services contains provisions championed by Congressman Kim including:

Jobs In New Jersey

Supporting the defense industrial base in New Jersey and creates jobs through programs that support contractors, subcontractors, and small businesses in Burlington and Ocean Counties.
$25.866 million for Aegis Ashore Guam, which supports hundreds of good, high-paying engineering and manufacturing jobs at the Lockheed Martin facility in Moorestown.
Funding for the development of a digital low noise amplifier modification to the existing AN/SPY-1 radar to be done in New Jersey.
Directing a study from the Navy that will position Lockheed Martin Moorestown to compete and win contracts that will fund more high-paying manufacturing jobs in New Jersey.
$6.369 billion in continued support for the Virginia-Class submarine program, which supports at least nine small parts manufacturers in NJ-03, including DC Fabricators in Florence, Champion Fasteners in Lumberton, Garvey Precision Machine in Willingboro, and Sea Box in Cinnaminson among others.
Expanding opportunities for the CACI C5ISR project at Joint Base McGuire Dix-Lakehurst, which operationalizes the capability of U.S. forces to operate from environments where access to GPS is not available.

Wins for Military Families

2.7 percent increase in military pay for all military servicemembers.
Revolutionizing the military's response to reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault by criminalizing sexual harassment within the Uniform Code of Military Justice and moving prosecution decisions in cases of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and all offenses against children out of the military chain of command.
Supporting military families by expanding military parental leave to 18 weeks and expanding allowable leave for military foster parents.
Directing DoD to use strict standards for limiting PFAS chemicals and restricting DoD from purchasing products that contain PFAS. These changes build on Congressman Kim's legislation to phase out the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS, which was passed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 NDAA, to protect the health of our servicemembers, their families, and surrounding communities.
Creating a basic needs allowance to ensure all military families can put food on the table and live dignified lives. Congressman Kim is a cosponsor of the Military Hunger Prevention Act and highlighted hunger among military families in a recent Armed Services Committee hearing.
Directing DoD to expand a current pilot program that provides scheduling assistance for servicemembers and their families seeking mental health appointments at military medical treatment facilities and clinics.

Wins in Defense, Cyber Security, Innovation, and Climate

Investing $24 million in DoD climate research.
Significantly increased investments in cyber and innovative technologies, including R&D partnerships, biotechnologies, and navigation systems to maintain our technological edge, including an additional $50 million to protect military information systems.
Countering the strategic challenges posed by the People's Republic of China by reaffirming the central role of close allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
Creating a commission to study the conflict in Afghanistan and requiring them to provide annual reporting and bi-annual briefings, including plans to evacuate Afghan allies, military equipment left in Afghanistan, updates on threats, and the status of any military cooperation between the Taliban and China, Russia, or Iran.
Providing an additional $15 million for the GenCyber program, a summer cybersecurity camp for K-12 students and teachers to increase training and interest in cybersecurity skillsets.
Increasing funding for the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship-for-Service program from $77 million to $84 million so more undergraduate and graduate students in STEM fields who have already committed to working in national security can access this pipeline for training the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
Supporting the creation of the DoD Artificial Intelligence (AI) Enterprise Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Committee and encouraging DoD to invest in machine learning to help grow our national cybersecurity apparatus.
Encouraging DoD to adopt new technologies by supporting emerging technology adoption training programs and requiring DoD to submit a report to Congress on plans for future training programs. Congressman Kim identified this need in consultation with defense startups and at events like the New Jersey National Security Innovation Summit.

Congressman Kim is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Small Business Committee. The Congressman is also a co-chair of the House Democratic National Security Task Force. Prior to serving in the House, Congressman Kim worked as a career public servant under both Democrats and Republicans. He served at USAID, the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and in Afghanistan as an advisor to Generals Petraeus and Allen.

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