📋 Tender Overview
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today applauded the Senate passage of the nations annual defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill, which includes key Warner-led priorities, must now be conferenced with the Houses version of the bill, before ultimately being signed into law by the President.
As the world becomes more dangerous and the technology available to our allies and adversaries alike becomes increasingly more complex, Im pleased to see the Senate pass this bipartisan legislation, said Sen. Warner. This legislation will strengthen our military, provide greater support to servicemembers, bolster our technological capabilities, and address challenges across the globe.
For the Commonwealth, this bill:
Authorizes more than 958 million for 13 military construction projects across the Commonwealth, which Senator Warner advocated for with the Armed Services Committee. This includes:
380 million for a Public-Private housing project at Naval Station Norfolk
188 million for dry dock modernization at Norfolk Naval Shipyard
24 million for the completion of two Child Development Centers (JEB Little Creek-Ft Story and NS Norfolk), and 15.5 million in funding for the VA National Guard to complete the next stage of their Aircraft Maintenance Hangar project.
Provides 30.9 billion for Navy shipbuilding - more than 10 billion over the Presidents budget request.
Greenlights the procurement of up to five Columbia-class submarines, as well as funding for the Virginia-class submarine and aircraft carrier programs.
Prevents funding from being misused to reduce the workforce at any public shipyard, including Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Authorizes NASA to reimburse the Town of Chincoteague for expenses related to relocated PFAS contaminated water wells to a safe location. From the late 1970s to 1988, PFAS were used at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility. In 2017, NASA detected PFAS in wells used to provide drinking water to the Town of Chincoteague and has since needed to provide the town with drinking water - first from an uncontaminated NASA well and then through a groundwater treatment system that filtered out the PFAS. This provision was championed by Sen. Warner and based off he introduced earlier this year.
Includes a major housing package that would boost the nations housing supply, improve housing affordability, help reduce homelessness, expand access to homeownership, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs.
Includes a CDFI package championed by Sen. Warner that would:
Expand the reach of the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program by reducing the minimum loan size needed to be eligible to utilize the program. This will allow more community development projects and make the program accessible to smaller CDFIs.
Increase transparency within the CDFI Fund by requiring the Treasury Secretary to testify annually before Congress.
Supports additional capacity for CDFIs in both rural and urban communities.
Expands a USDA pilot program that works with Native CDFIs to help Native families achieve homeownership.
For a stronger military, this bill:
Authorizes a 3.8 percent pay raise for servicemembers.
Creates a new Personal Property Management Office, and establishes stricter requirements and oversight mechanisms for any future contract related to the servicemember PCS move process. This builds on Sen. Warners to secure modifications to the militarys broken moving system. Sen. Warner previously about ongoing delays and confusion, and about missed pickups, delivery issues and communication difficulties with the military contractor responsible for moves.
Includes a package of reforms to barracks housing, led by Sen. Warner, which will allow for increased oversight of housing for these servicemembers. These provisions mandate a review of housing quality methodologies, reform those metrics to ensure they accurately reflect the quality of housing, and take steps to standardize methodologies across military services; develop a centralized tracking system for barracks construction needs; and improve a number of reporting requirements aimed at increasing transparency and improving the quality of housing for our servicemembers.
Makes a number of additional improvements to military housing policy, including increased visibility around dispute resolution payments by landlords, a prohibition on mandatory non-disclosure agreements (NDA) as a condition of securing housing, as well as greater transparency requirements around the calculation of housing allowance rates.
Creates additional safety requirements in the wake of the American Airlines Flight 5342 collision with a military helicopter over the Potomac River. Specifically, this legislation sets a requirement that all DoD aircraft operating near commercial airports be equipped with position broadcast technology. This legislation also directs the development of standard operating procedures that maximize the use of such technology, as well as a review of DoD policies and procedures for data gathering, risk assessment and risk mitigation of U.S. military flights, especially as it relates to differentiating between flights in the U.S. domestic airspace.
Directs DoD to reverse recent name changes to Virginia military installations, specifically directing that these be reverted to the names recommended by the DoDs Naming Commission. This bill also prohibits the Secretary of Defense from making any further changes to these names.
To strengthen our nations technological capabilities, this bill:
Includes Warner provisions to support DoDs fielding of advanced nuclear technology. The bill includes provisions that would create an Advanced Nuclear Working Group responsible for accelerating the procurement and use of advanced nuclear capabilities, improving coordination across the Department and federal government, and developing advanced nuclear pilot projects to support national security missions and em
