{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-supports-defense-bill-with-major-nebraska-wins/", "Ricketts Supports Defense Bill With Major Nebraska Wins", "2025-10-10", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Pete Ricketts", "R000618", "www.ricketts.senate.gov", "ricketts", "https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list&pagenum=", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) recognized passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA authorizes funding levels and authorities for the U.S. military. This ensures American forces have the training, equipment, and resources they need to carry out their missions..\n\n\u201cCommunist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea all need to be deterred,\u201d said Senator Ricketts. \u201cBy restoring American strength, this NDAA will help us deter our adversaries and keep Americans safe. I appreciate Senator Deb Fischer and Congressman Don Bacon\u2019s leadership on the Armed Services Committees. Together, we\u2019re ensuring our military has what it needs to defend us.\u201d\n\nWins in the NDAA:\n\nAuthorizes $924.7 billion for national defense next year;\n\nGives a 3.8% pay raise to our servicemembers;\n\nAuthorizes over $4 billion in funding for modernizing our nuclear triad, including the Sentinel ICBM program;\n\nIncludes the Ricketts-sponsored AUKUS Improvement Act, which streamlines defense industrial base collaboration and co-production between the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom;\n\nIncludes a Ricketts-authored provision requiring a security review of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (STA);\n\nIncludes a Ricketts-supported provision directing the U.S. Department of Defense to assess the feasibility of a program, modeled after Senator Fischer\u2019s CHIP In for Veterans Act, enabling local communities to contribute to DoD healthcare facility development;\n\nIncludes the Ricketts-supported COUNTER Act, which combats Communist China\u2019s attempts to strengthen its global reach through military expansion;\n\nNebraska-Specific Wins:\n\nExtends experimentation and prototyping authority to all combatant commands, including U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM);\n\nRequires the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program to begin being fielded by Sept. 30, 2033;\n\nAuthorizes an additional $19 million in funding for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which identifies the remains of fallen servicemembers. One of two DPAA labs is located at Offutt Air Force Base;\n\nAuthorizes $15 million to support the Nuclear Command, Control, Communications (NC3) Network Sensor Demonstration at Offutt Air Force Base;\n\nAuthorizes $15 million to support the innovative NC3 Rapid Engineering Architecture Collaboration Hub program, or REACH, at Offutt Air Force Base;\n\nAuthorizes funding for the Survivable Airborne Operation Center (SAOC) to replace the aging E-4B \u201cDoomsday plane,\u201d as well as funding for the design of hangars and other facilities for SAOC at Offutt Air Force Base;\n\nCodifies a requirement for deep cleaning of ICBM launch control centers every five years;\n\nDesignates STRATCOM\u2019s Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (JEMSO) office as the lead entity for coordinating testing and evaluation of joint employment of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technologies;\n\nDirects a report on the 557th Weather Wing\u2019s cloud migration, AI readiness, and infrastructure modernization roadmap;\n\nCodifies the 557th Weather Wing\u2019s authorities to provide meteorological and environmental services to the Intelligence Community;\n\nRequires CFIUS to report on real estate transactions of national security threats. This helps to target Communist China\u2019s malign activities in the U.S. and near critical military sites across the nation;\n\nRicketts\u2019 AUKUS Improvement Act:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-supports-defense-bill-with-major-nebraska-wins/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.162670087069273, "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"}