{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://hudson.house.gov/press-releases/hudson-praises-gains-for-troops-fort-bragg-in-national-defense-bill", "Hudson Praises Gains for Troops, Fort Bragg in National Defense Bill", "2021-09-23", "2021", "2021-09", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Richard Hudson", "H001067", "hudson.house.gov", "hudson", "https://hudson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08), Fort Bragg's Congressman and a voice for veterans, praised pay raises for troops, investments for Fort Bragg, and other provisions in the FY 22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which passed the U.S. House of Representatives today.\n\n\"This is not a perfect bill but overall it is a win for our troops, military families and veterans,\" said Rep. Hudson. \"I am proud to have sponsored several provisions included to fund needed investments in our military and bases like Fort Bragg. Like last year, I now look forward to ensuring troubling provisions are removed as negotiations continue.\"\n\nThe NDAA provides an overall 2.7% pay increase for servicemembers. Additionally, Rep. Hudson worked to secure several key provisions for active-duty servicemembers, military families and veterans. A breakdown is found below.\n\nRepresentative Hudson's Priorities Secured in the NDAA\n\nMilitary Family Readiness/ Education/ Healthcare\n\nIncludes the Counting Overlooked Base Impact Aid (COBIA) Act, introduced by Rep. Hudson and Rep. Rob Wittman in July.\n\nEnsures schools educating service-connected children receive the full sum of federal Impact Aid to which they are currently entitled.\n\nAuthorizes an increase in funding of $70 million for Impact Aid \u2014 $50 million for supplemental Impact Aid and $20 million for Impact Aid for military children with severe disabilities.\n\nRequires a report on the Preservation of the Force and Family Program (POTFF) for Special Operations Forces (SOF).\n\nThe report will provide progress of implementation for SOF.\n\nThe report will include plans for improvement to POTFF to better address needs of the SOF community.\n\nRequires a report to modernize the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) calculation for military families.\n\nMandates a review of the Military Health System's blast injury policy to include Traumatic Brain Injury.\n\nDirects the DoD to standardize definitions and tracking of suicide attempts and suicidal behavior across all military services.\n\nIncludes an independent analysis of DoD Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration Program under TRICARE.\n\nMilitary Construction\n\nReduces the threshold amount for Base Commander's Military Construction (MILCON) project funding approval. Current law requires Secretary-level approval.\n\nBy allowing projects below $2 million to be approved at a lower level, this will allow bases \u2013 such as Fort Bragg \u2013 to do routine maintenance, upgrade projects, and smaller MILCON projects much easier and faster.\n\nFY2022 Military Construction for Fort Bragg\n\nTotal funding: $27.2 million\n\nEmergency Water System - $7.7 million\n\nMW Microgrid Utilizing Existing and New Generators - $19.5 million\n\nMeets several priorities identified by Rep. Hudson in testimony to the Appropriations Committee in May.\n\nPFAS\n\nRequires the DoD to publish results of drinking and groundwater PFAS testing conducted on or near military installations or former defense sites.\n\nRequires the DoD to review current practices to prevent or mitigate Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) spills and develop best practices for spill prevention and mitigation.\n\nIncreases transparency and facilitates information-sharing with defense communities impacted by PFAS contamination.\n\nRequires DoD to offer PFAS exposure evaluation and testing for servicemembers who wants it as part of their annual exam.\n\nEnd Strength/ Pay and Compensation\n\nAuthorizes active duty end strength levels (U.S. Army: 485,000)\n\nProvides a 2.7% pay increase for servicemembers\n\nProvides a basic needs allowance for low-income servicemembers\n\nMilitary Justice and Sexual Assault\n\nEnsures that survivors of sexual assault are notified of the outcomes of any administrative action taken against their perpetrator.\n\nRequires that the Secretary of Defense provide to victims a list of approved civilian victim service organizations from which a victim may seek additional legal assistance, legal representation, or other related services.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:17:01Z"]], "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://hudson.house.gov/press-releases/hudson-praises-gains-for-troops-fort-bragg-in-national-defense-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5320118982344866, "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"}