Charleston Reporter

Scores major wins for South Carolina

Washington, D.C. - On July 14, Rep. Nancy Mace (SC-01) voted yes on the bipartisan 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to fund our military and veterans after securing a number of major wins for South Carolina and the Lowcountry. 

“We worked very hard to ensure the House passed NDAA included a number of wins for South Carolina and the Lowcountry. Our state provides integral support to our men and women in uniform, both here and abroad. Many of our nation’s best warfighters are trained and stationed here. This bill will provide our U.S. military the resources they need to be the best, brightest and most lethal fighting force on Earth.”

Priorities Benefitting the First District and South Carolina:

• Ensures our ability to use high-powered microwaves to stop vessels. Parsons, a company which has 419 employees in South Carolina, produces components for the technology.
• Authorizes 13 new Virginia class submarines. All Naval nuclear operators are trained at the Navy Nuclear Power School in Charleston.
• Directs military installations to clean up Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This includes Parris Island and Joint Base Charleston.
• Ensures the DoD priorities research for the University of South Carolina Research Authority on defense communication technology across land, air, sea, space, and cyber (The Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) system)
• Improves security for MCAS Beaufort and Navy Nuclear Power School weapons systems.
• $5 million dollars for the construction of an AI-Enhanced Quantum Computing Innovation Center in Charleston. 
• $1.8 million for the Poseidon, a U.S. Navy aircraft manufactured by Boeing. 
• $300 million for the F-35. MCAS Beaufort currently houses F-35 hangars and training facility.
• Funding for a critical extended-range air defense interceptor for the U.S. Navy. South Carolina has several suppliers supporting the Standard Missile family.
• Resources for a remotely piloted aircraft used by Special Operations Command. This aircraft, version MQ-9, is based in South Carolina and the engine is manufactured by Rolls Royce.

Other policy initiatives spearheaded by Congresswoman Mace:

• Keeps the C-130 total aircraft inventory at 271. 
• Requires a briefing on all foreign objects operated in U.S.airspace beginning in January 2021.
• Directs the Secretary of Defense to implement a pilot program to investigate new drugs derived from cannabis for FDA approval and to collect and publish state data addressing the health effects of medical marijuana on active duty military and veterans.
• Secures funding for Department of Defense website modernization.
• A briefing for Congress on transportation vulnerabilities from communist China.
• Establishes a pilot program for the military to use certified low-methane intensity natural gas.
• A report on the vulnerabilities of our supply chain.

OTHER FY24 NDAA PROVISIONS:

The FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contains huge wins for national security and military families. It also includes provisions to remove political agendas which have no place in our military. This year’s NDAA capitalizes on innovation to increase real lethality of the Joint Force; strengthens U.S. capabilities and partnerships to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s increased military aggression; adequately equips our warfighters to complete their missions; and ensures vigorous oversight of taxpayer dollars at the Pentagon. 

• Fully funds our national defense while cutting costs and improving efficiency:
  • Authorizes $886.3 billion for national defense discretionary programs, $23 billion over the FY23 enacted level
  • Saves nearly $40 billion by cutting inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and unnecessary bureaucracy in the Pentagon
• Supports servicemembers and their families:
  • Includes a 5.2% increase in servicemember basic pay, the largest pay raise in over 20 years
  • Extends recruitment and retention bonuses 
  • Authorizes over $240 million to reduce out-of-pocket housing costs
  • Expands reimbursement eligibility for military spouses on business costs and relicensing when transferring locations
  • Reduces DoD childcare fees for military families
  • Authorizes $113 billion over the budget request for new military childcare centers, and authorizes over $280 million to build new schools for military children 
• Strengthens oversight and fiscal accountability at the Pentagon: 
  • Requires the DoD Inspector General (IG) to conduct a full audit of the price and cost data for major acquisition programs 
  • Establishes an Inspector General for Ukraine tasked with auditing all aid provided by the U.S. 
  • Penalizes DoD for cost overruns on major programs
  • Saves taxpayer money on wasteful contract disputes by establishing a loser-pays pilot program 
  • Increases oversight on wasteful DoD property leases
  • Requires a fix for the unauthorized release of military records
• Strengthens strategic deterrence, lethal capabilities, and promotes innovation:
  • Authorizes key priorities left unfunded in the Administration’s budget for INDOPACOM and missile defense
  • Develops advanced radar systems to track high-altitude balloons and missiles. 
  • Fully funds the modernization of our nuclear triad and rejects the administration’s request to cancel the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) program
  • Requires DoD to notify Congress of collaborative nuclear efforts between China and Russia and assess the cooperation between China and Iran on ICBM technology
  • Requires the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to report directly to the Secretary of Defense, promoting more rapid scalability of private sector innovation into the Department.
  • Promotes processes for small businesses to enter the market to work with the DoD.
• Counters aggression from the Chinese Communist Party:
  • Requires the DoD to ensure military fuel providers are not owned by the CCP, and mitigate potential threats posed by the purchase by CCP-backed entities of land near military installations
  • Increases funding for innovative technologies like AI, autonomous systems, cyber, mobile micro nuclear reactors, and high energy lasers to meet and defeat China’s pacing threat 
  • Improves training and development of the workforce to accelerate Foreign Military Sales deliveries to Taiwan and other key partners 
  • Prohibits DoD from contracting with the Ecohealth Alliance, consulting firms with CCP-backed business, or any entity with CCP-backed transportation logistics software
  • Prevents the retirement of capabilities with remaining service life, including 5 battle ships and additional F-22 and C-130 aircraft 
  • Invests in projection forces and shipyard infrastructure projects
• Provides a pathway back to the armed forces for service members who did not take the COVID vaccine: 
  • Continues to prohibit the DoD from mandating servicemembers take the COVID-19 vaccine
  • Requires the DoD to establish a process to fully inform interested servicemembers of how to reinstate
  • Classifies time away from service of discharged service members as “career intermissions” so future promotion considerations will not be negatively impacted
  • Requires DoD to prioritize requests of discharged servicemembers to enable full retirement benefits 
• Provides DoD support to secure the border:
  • Provides additional resources for the National Guard’s work with local law enforcement to disrupt illicit drug trafficking
  • Provides funding for NORTHCOM to improve drug interdiction efforts
  • Directs DoD to inform Congress on how it can utilize or transfer unused border wall materials to border states
  • Fully funds the National Guard’s border deployment account.

Original source can be found here