{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3707", "Biden to Sign Dozens of Houlahan\u2019s Initiatives in Annual Defense Bill into Law", "2023-12-22", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Chrissy Houlahan", "H001085", "houlahan.house.gov", "houlahan", "https://houlahan.house.gov/press/documentquery.aspx", "page_html", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) celebrated the dozens of her legislative efforts in H.R. 2670, the bipartisan, bicameral FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that will be signed into law before the New Year. As a returning member of the House Armed Services Committee, the ranking member of the committee\u2019s Quality of Life Panel, and a member of the bipartisan, bicameral NDAA Conference Committee that negotiated the final version of the bill, Houlahan has been working for months to advance efforts to support military personnel and strengthen the U.S.\u2019 national security. Those efforts include expanding paid leave for veterans, growing the nation\u2019s cybersecurity workforce, increasing opportunities for small business contracts with the Department of Defense (DoD), cracking down on fentanyl, and more.\n\nThe bill passed the House 310-118.\n\n\u201cAs should be the case with legislation involving our national security, this year\u2019s annual defense bill defied the narrative of our otherwise fractured Congress and passed with broad bipartisan support,\u201d said Houlahan. \u201cFor 63 consecutive years, Congress has come together to pass the National Defense Authorization Act \u2013 the only bill to have such a record.\u201d\n\nHoulahan championed 36 bills/provisions in the NDAA, including the following highlights that will:\n\n\u00b7 Expand paid leave eligibility to veterans in the federal workforce by counting their service in uniform towards the Family and Medical Leave Act\u2019s (FMLA) 12-month work requirement\n\n\u00b7 Grow the current DoD cyber and digital scholarship program to include career opportunities in all parts of the intelligence community\n\n\u00b7 Increase funding for Army Humanitarian Demining program by $2 million to help affected nations around the world recover from conflict\n\n\u00b7 Protect military personnel\u2019s access to life-saving medicines by identifying pharmaceutical and medical device supply chain vulnerabilities, developing a strategy for increased domestic production, and executing a plan for a 180-day stockpile program\n\n\u00b7 Support service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB) by increasing the federal government\u2019s procurement goal for SDOSB program participants from 3% to 5%\n\n\u00b7 Improve maternity care for service women and military dependents by increasing access to doula and lactation certifications\n\n\u00b7 Increase retention by clarifying remote work eligibility for military spouses and requiring further reporting on the effects of remote work in federal spaces\n\n\u00b7 Require reporting on dozens of issues including access to critical minerals, prevention and treatment of perinatal health conditions, our security clearance screening process, improved access to fertility treatments for servicemembers, and more.\n\nHoulahan added: \u201cI\u2019m extremely proud to play such an integral role in this legislation and secure dozens of priorities on behalf of my community, Commonwealth, and country. I want to show service members, military dependents, veterans, and all Americans that I will always place their best interests above partisan politics, and I hope the accomplishments our office secured this year does exactly that.\u201d\n\nIncluded in the annual defense bill was a four-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This bipartisan extension enables the U.S. intelligence community to continue collecting online communications on non-U.S. persons abroad to protect American lives. As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Houlahan authored a provision to combat the fentanyl crisis by requiring detailed explanations of counternarcotic efforts in the Director of National Intelligence\u2019s annual budget request.\n\nAdditional provisions in the expansive bill that Houlahan supported will:\n\n\u00b7 Provide a 5.2% pay raise for servicemembers, the largest in two decades\n\n\u00b7 Improve military families\u2019 quality of living with funding for housing and child care\n\n\u00b7 Fund energy conservation projects and research\n\n\u00b7 Invest $150 million in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUS)\n\nThe bill also includes provisions to support our allies, authorizing $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and affirming Congress\u2019s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).", 1, "2026-04-08T14:14:11Z", "2026-04-08T14:23:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3707"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.722997985780239, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}