{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-statement-on-house-passage-of-national-defense-authorization-act", "Kuster Statement on House Passage of National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020", "2019-12-11", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Ann Kuster", "K000382", "kuster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C.  Today, Rep. Annie Kuster (NH-02) released the following statement on the House passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes key provisions led and advocated for by Kuster. The legislation also includes a 3.1% pay increase for our nation's servicemembers, the largest in a decade.\nFrom securing the largest pay raise for our servicemembers in a decade, providing support for survivors of partner and domestic violence, to implementing 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all civilian federal employees, I am glad to see this critical legislation pass the House, said Kuster. I am excited to see a number of provisions I led and cosponsored included in the final legislation as part of our nation's defense priorities.\nProvisions advocated for by Kuster in the final legislation that was passed by the House include:\nPaid parental leave\nImplement 12 weeks of paid parental leave to all civilian federal employees.\nRepeal of the Widows Tax\nRepeal the Widows Tax to allow families of fallen servicemembers to continue receiving vital benefits. This provision repeals the dollar for dollar offset surviving military spouses get for the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Program (DIC) & the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP).\nEliminate wasteful DOD spending\nDepartment of Defense-wide best practices to improve the collection of real property information to cut down on wasteful spending.\nProtect and support survivors of intimate partner and domestic violence\n \nRegistration of all civilian protection orders on military installations to keep servicemembers and their families safe from intimate partner and domestic violence.\n\tTrauma informed training and consolation with trauma experts for Discharge Review Boards and Boards for the Correction of Military Records to ensure victims of domestic and intimate partner violence are not unfairly denied veterans benefits because of discharges related to sexual violence they experienced while serving.\n \nProtection from Carbon Monoxide poisoning\nRequire DOD to install carbon monoxide alarms in all military housing to protect servicemembers and their families.\nEmpower servicemembers to fight medical malpractice\nCreate a pathway for servicemembers to file claims for themselves or a family member in the case of medical malpractice.\nGender integration in Marine Corps boot camps\nEstablish a timeline and require the Marine Corps to gender integrate basic training programs at Parris Island and San Diego Recruit Depots.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-statement-on-house-passage-of-national-defense-authorization-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6645349785685539, "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"}