{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-sylvia-garcia-votes-to-advance-annual-defense-bill-to-the-president-biden-s-desk", "CONGRESSWOMAN SYLVIA GARCIA VOTES TO ADVANCE ANNUAL DEFENSE BILL TO THE PRESIDENT BIDEN\u2019S DESK", "2023-12-15", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Sylvia R. Garcia", "G000587", "sylviagarcia.house.gov", "sylviagarcia", "https://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013Congresswoman Sylvia voted to pass H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, which continues to invest in the core of our national defense: service members, civilian workers, and their families; allies and partners; innovation and technology; our domestic industrial base; and military readiness.\n\n\u201cDemocrats fought for and secured investments in the core strength of our national defense: service members, civilian workers, and their families: allies and partners; innovation and technology; our domestic industrial base; and military readiness,\u201d said Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. \u201cI look forward to President Biden signing this monumental bill into a law.\u201d\n\nKey wins in the NDAA include:\n\nInvests in service members, the civilian workforce, and military families by:\n\nSupporting the 5.2% pay raise proposed in the President\u2019s budget request.\n\nExpanding eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance (program that provides funds for food, housing, etc. for lowest paid.\n\nMaking significant investments in military family housing, child development\n\ncenters, and replacing failing unaccompanied housing (barracks);\n\nImproving FMLA eligibility for federal employees.\n\nReaffirms our commitment to partners and allies by:\n\nEnabling key pillars of AUKUS\n\nReauthorizing the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI)\n\nFully resourcing the European Deterrence Initiative and Pacific Deterrence\n\nInitiative\n\nAuthorizes a record-high investment of $150 million for HBCUs.\n\n$650 million worth of investments in energy resilience and energy conservation projects.\n\nIncreases oversight of equipment provided to foreign countries by requiring GAO to give reports on monitoring equipment use.\n\nNDAA, or H.R. 2670, is an annual piece of legislation that sets the country's defense spending budget for the following year. It authorizes investments for the Department of Defense and defense activities in other federal agencies and departments.\n\n###\n\nCongresswoman Sylvia R. Garcia was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018, becoming the first Latina ever to represent the Texas 29th Congressional District. She is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, the Vice Chair on Housing and Transportation of the House Democratic Caucus Poverty Task Force, and a member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "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://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-sylvia-garcia-votes-to-advance-annual-defense-bill-to-the-president-biden-s-desk"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9902579952031374, "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"}