McCarthy Secures Local Priorities in Passage of NDAA

Statement

This morning, Congressman Kevin McCarthy released the following statement after voting for passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) late last night:

"Through the NDAA, Republicans were able to secure critical provisions important to America, California, and our community. On a local level, the NDAA secures the authorization of $9.12 million to construct the Solar Energy Storage System at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, bolstering the installation's energy resiliency. The NDAA also enhances our region by including some bases, like NAWS China Lake and Edwards Air Force Base, as eligible locations for waiving the waiting period for certain military retirees. This will allow our defense partners to retain vital expertise and knowledge of military missions and capabilities.

"Republicans also worked to remove toxic provisions from the NDAA, including dangerous red flag laws that infringe on the Second Amendment rights of our service members and an expansion of the military selective service. This bill also prohibits the dishonorable discharge of those servicemembers who decline the COVID-19 vaccine and establishes uniform standards for servicemember exemptions from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

"I am extremely grateful for our community's amazing heritage in developing some of our nation's most important defense and space innovations, and the passage of the NDAA is critical to our national security."

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