CONGRESSMAN BISHOP SUPPORTS NATIONAL DEFENSE BILL, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS PROJECTS IN GEORGIA
December 9, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) supported the approval of H.Res. 1512, legislation that includes the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The NDAA authorizes funding to bolster our national defense, our service members and their families; increase investments in advanced technology and maintain national security at home and abroad. The WRDA reauthorizes and increases environmental projects, overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, that address water, wastewater, water supply, and stormwater management.
"Democrats and Republicans came together to ensure the security of our country and the well-being of all Americans," said Congressman Bishop. "This bill makes crucial investments in our troops and their families as well as the weapons, research, and equipment that are the backbone of our national defense. It also authorizes flood mitigation efforts in Albany and directs greater attention to managing Hydrilla, a persistent problem in America's waterways, including Lake Seminole."
Congressman Bishop is the Vice Chair of the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs as well as the Co-Chair of the Congressional Military Family Caucus.
Key provisions of the bill include:
For Service Members and Their Families
- A 4.6% pay raise
- Increased funds to ensure they have access to quality housing
- Increased maximum allowable income to receive the Basic Needs Allowance to 150% of the federal poverty line
- An additional $210 million for commissary funding to offset higher costs
Securing America, Supporting a 21st Century Fighting Force
- $1 billion for the National Defense Stockpile to acquire strategic and critical materials required to meet the defense, industrial, and essential civilian needs
- Crucial investments in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Cybersecurity programs to keep America's military on the cutting edge of technology
- Requires government contractors to use semiconductor chips that were Made In America – creating a more secure supply chain and good-paying American jobs
- $138.9 billion in research and development, including over $131.7 million for research activities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), including Albany State University and Fort Valley State University which are in Georgia's 2nd Congressional District
Investing in Georgia
- $6.6 billion for environmental infrastructure aid across America, including $109 million to Albany, Georgia, for wastewater infrastructure, stormwater management, and combined sewer overflows
- $25.4 million for power generation and microgrid construction at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield
- $11.2 million for control system modernization for the Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay
- $6.9 million for operations facilities construction projects at Moody Air Force Base
- $6.4 million for a consolidated communications facility at Marine Corps Base Albany
- $5.0 million for the Army Reserve Center at Dobbins Air Reserve Base
- $5.0 million for a Child Development Center at Fort Gordon
- $2.1 million for the National Guard/Reserve Center Building at Fort Gordon
- Safeguards Combat Readiness Training Centers – including the one located in Savannah, Georgia – by preventing the Defense Department from using funds to close them without collaborating with the congressional defense committees
- Authorizes a project for Albany, Georgia, to mitigate the risk of damage from flooding like that experienced with the two "500 year" floods in 1994 and 1998
- Adds Hydrilla to Army Corps of Engineers research efforts so that it can better manage the invasive species which affects waterways throughout the United States, including Lake Seminole in Southwest Georgia
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