{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-senate-pass-defense-bill-that-takes-care-of-our-troops-and-makes-america-more-secure", "Sullivan, Senate Pass Defense Bill That Takes Care Of Our Troops and Makes America More Secure", "2021-12-15", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Dan Sullivan", "S001198", "www.sullivan.senate.gov", "sullivan", "https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases?PageNum_rs=36", "scraper", "Bill includes Sullivan-Authored Arctic Security Initiative, Other Alaska Provisions\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), voted today to pass the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would raise the Department of Defense\u2019s (DOD) budget by $25 billion beyond President Joe Biden\u2019s defense budget proposal, a level consistent with the recommendations of the National Defense Strategy Commission, and includes numerous Arctic and Alaska priorities championed by Sullivan. The bill now goes to the President\u2019s desk for his signature.\n\n\u201cRepublicans and Democrats in Congress today soundly rejected Joe Biden\u2019s dangerous, dead-last prioritization of the U.S. military, passing an authorization that robustly invests in our nation\u2019s defense and provides our troops with the resources they need to fulfill a wide array of critical missions,\u201d said Sen. Sullivan. \u201cWe were also able to work on a bipartisan basis to remove provisions championed by far-left members of the House and the President that sought to conduct social engineering experiments in our military ranks and detract from the readiness and lethality of our fighting force. This NDAA also invests heavily in defense technologies and weapons that will help us keep pace with our adversaries, like Russia and China, as they continue to threaten democracies and upend the global rules-based order.\n\n\u201cAdditionally, this NDAA includes numerous provisions for Alaska, including approximately $155 million dollars for military construction, and a new Arctic Security Initiative I authored that will, at long last, ensure the Arctic is properly resourced and integrated into our larger defense strategy\u2014where it belongs. The independent assessment this initiative requires will ultimately mean more focus, personnel, vessels, infrastructure, aircraft and investment being directed to America\u2019s Arctic\u2014to Alaska\u2014in defense of our nation\u2019s interests in this critically-important region. With my provision in last year\u2019s NDAA to establish the Ted Stevens Center, which the DOD recently announced will be headquartered in Anchorage, and my Arctic Security Initiative in this year\u2019s NDAA, Alaska has rightfully become the critical focal point for Arctic security endeavors for America and our allies throughout the world.\u201d\n\nCongress has historically only authorized two region-specific security initiatives\u2014the European Deterrence Initiative in 2014, following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) in 2021, following China\u2019s militarization of the South China Sea and other provocative actions in Asia. Sen. Sullivan was able to include a provision authorizing the secretary of defense to establish a third such initiative in the FY 2022 NDAA\u2014the Arctic Security Initiative (ASI), which features a five-year plan to fully resource the DOD\u2019s and individual service-specific strategies for the Arctic that have been released over the past several years.\n\n\u201cFinally, after years of advocacy, this year\u2019s NDAA includes legislation I\u2019ve introduced to maximize interagency collaboration and capacity between the Defense Health and Veterans Health Agencies, authorizing the secretary of defense and the secretary of veterans affairs to enter into agreements for the planning, design, and construction of facilities to be operated as shared federal medical facilities,\u201d said Sen. Sullivan. \u201cThis is critically important in states, like Alaska, where there is no full-service VA hospital and more than forty percent of residents are federal health care beneficiaries.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs the senior Republican on the Subcommittee on Readiness, Sen. Sullivan has fought to make sure our military is prepared for any threat that comes our way\u2014whether in the Indo-Pacific or the Arctic. That includes making sure the Department of Defense has the budget it needs to take care of our troops and defend the country and that those resources are going to the right places,\u201d said SASC Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). \u201cI\u2019m proud to have worked with him to make this National Defense Authorization Act a strong, bipartisan bill that will make our country more secure.\u201d\n\nIn addition to authorizing the ASI, the FY 2022 NDAA:\n\nIncreases funding for national defense by $25 billion beyond President Biden\u2019s request, matching the National Defense Strategy Commission\u2019s minimum recommendation of 3 percent real growth, bringing the total funding authorized for the DOD and nuclear weapons activities to a total of $777.9 billion;\n\nProvides America\u2019s service members with a 2.7 percent pay raise, makes necessary improvements to military health care, continues efforts to guarantee military spouses have access to meaningful employment, provides service members with dedicated bereavement leave, and ensures military families have access to high-quality housing;\n\nIncreases resources for the new Pacific Deterrence Initiative by $1 billion for the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) commander\u2019s highest priorities;\n\nHardens America\u2019s defense industrial base and supply chain against threats posed by China;\n\nFocuses attention on U.S.-Taiwan defense cooperation, including asymmetric military capabilities;\n\nRequires an assessment of current and emerging offensive capabilities of China and other adversaries and disclosures of any printed circuit boards sourced from China;\n\nAccelerates research and development of key modernization technologies at the heart of strategic competition with China;\n\nAdds more than $2.5 billion for shipbuilding, with funding for an additional destroyer;\n\nProvides the largest investment in military construction in a decade\u2014$12.735 billion\u2014nearly $2.9 billion more than the president requested;\n\nEmphasizes the importance of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD);\n\nProvides key support for America\u2019s allies, including Taiwan, Ukraine, Israel, and Afghan civilians and translators who supported U.S. counterterrorism efforts;\n\nContinues to limit military cooperation between the U.S. and Russia, rejects Russian aggression, and authorizes an increase of $50 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative;\n\nInvests in defense technology to put America ahead of its global competitors, including microelectronics, artificial intelligence, 5G, hypersonic weapons, and directed energy;\n\nFully funds the United States Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and protects against persistent cyberattacks by assessing and strengthening America\u2019s offensive and defensive capabilities;\n\nAuthorizes the DOD to transport Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) candidates and other at-risk Afghan partners outside of Afghanistan for visa processing;\n\nRequires military contractors to disclose any training related to critical race theory.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "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.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-senate-pass-defense-bill-that-takes-care-of-our-troops-and-makes-america-more-secure"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4330630656331778, "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"}