The House of Representatives passed the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with added funding after Virginia Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and Elaine Luria (D-VA-02) blasted the administration’s original military spending proposals for not including a large enough budget and for planning to decommission some ships. Wittman was the only Virginia Republican voting in favor of the bill after the House Freedom Caucus criticized it the day before the vote.
After passage of the NDAA on Thursday, Wittman praised it in a press release: “In today’s increasingly divided political world, today’s passage of the NDAA is encouraging proof that Congress can still work together for the greater good of our nation. This year’s NDAA does right by our servicemembers and their families, reverses Biden’s reckless defense cuts, counteracts Biden’s harmful inflation, provides the resources we need to deter Chinese aggression, and protects our homeland.”
“This year’s NDAA represents a bipartisan effort to support our active-duty personnel with a pay raise and invest in the critical capabilities that our armed forces need to defend our nation and interests abroad. Additionally, the NDAA includes several of my amendments to directly address the quality of life for sailors during a complex overhaul, like we recently saw with USS George Washington,” Luria said in a release. “As a 20-year Navy veteran, I am proud of the progress we have made in this year’s NDAA to grow our Navy, strengthen our military, and send a clear message of our commitment to freedom and global security. I will continue to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support our military, and I look forward to negotiating with the Senate on the final topline number.”
Wittman and Luria have been sounding the alarm for months, with both issuing scathing criticisms of Biden’s plans.
“I have delayed putting out a statement about the Defense Budget because frankly it would have been mostly full of words you might expect from a Sailor, but here goes: It sucks,” Luria wrote in a series of tweets in March
In May, Wittman, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, submitted an official statement to the record that criticized both the NDAA and an associated 30-year shipbuilding plan.
He said he would reject an “anemic shipbuilding request” that plans to retire vessels, seeks to not maintain the naval aviation plan, would “eviscerate our mine countermeasure warfighting capabilities,” “irreparably harm our nation’s ability to support future forcible entry options” by reducing amphibious forces, and would “waste significant taxpayer’s monies.”
In June, the House Armed Services Committee approved a $37 billion amendment to the NDAA sponsored by Luria and Representative Jared Golden (D-ME-02) and co-sponsored by Wittman. The amendment added spending for more fighter jets, Ukraine assistance, research and development, new ships, infrastructure, and facilities modernization. That amendment is included in the version of the NDAA passed by the House.
The NDAA also includes legislation from Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11): the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act, which was also sponsored by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07).
“The legislation aims to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the Crown Prince’s ongoing global intimidation and harassment campaign against dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists. This bill ensures justice and accountability more than three years after Jamal’s death, and imposes a cost to Saudi Arabia for continuing to engage in such acts of intimidation and violence going forward,” a Connolly press release stated.
Criticism of the NDAA
The bill passed the House 329 to 101, with 39 Democrats voting against it and 62 Republicans voting against it.
On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus said in a press release, “This bill does nothing to address the President’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which are forcing thousands of our best, bravest, and highly trained (on the Taxpayers’ dime, mind you) Service Members out of the military. It also fails to end the radical Left’s contamination of our military with ‘woke’ ideology, the prioritization of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ over combat readiness, or the wasteful allocation of funds on politically motivated ‘Green New Deal’ climate initiatives.”
The caucus also said the bill doesn’t secure the U.S.’ border.
In a separate press release after the vote, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA-05) said, “It is clear this America-last Administration does not understand the real security threats to our country or how to address them. Our border is being overrun by the Mexican crime cartels, we are sending billions of dollars of military equipment and weaponry to Ukraine with no plan or exit strategy, and we are becoming increasingly dependent on countries who hate us for our energy supply. There is nothing about the Biden Administration record on national security that justifies a single Republican vote of confidence or an additional $850 billion of taxpayer dollars.”
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-04) voted for the bill, but he led 29 other representatives in a letter sent to Senate leaders asking them to reject an amendment in the bill that they say would harm the offshore wind industry. The amendment would ban offshore wind developers from using foreign-flagged ships, which the letter says could force the projects to shut down due to a current lack of U.S.-flagged resources.
“While misconstrued, the amendment’s intent is just. We strongly support its attempt to foster American jobs in the offshore wind sector. However, the actual effect of this provision will be contrary to its intent,” the letter states, later adding, “Ceasing construction at this early stage will jeopardize as many as 33 offshore wind projects along the East Coast and as many as 9,000 jobs at the Massachusetts Wind project and the Dominion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project alone.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rob Wittman” by Rep. Rob Wittman. Photo “Elaine Luria” by Congresswoman Elaine Luria. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Gareth Milner. CC BY 2.0.
