{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-ndaa-final-passage", "Van Hollen Statement on NDAA Final Passage", "2019-12-17", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "MD", "Chris Van Hollen", "V000128", "www.vanhollen.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 17, 2019\n\t\t\t Van Hollen Statement on NDAA Final Passage \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Legislation - which includes several Maryland priorities - now heads to the President's desk\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON\r\n Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released the\r\nfollowing statement on the Senate passage  and his support  of\r\nthe FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation, having\r\npassed both the full House and Senate, will now head to the President's desk\r\nfor signature.   I'm pleased\r\nthat the House and Senate were able to come together on a bipartisan basis to\r\npass this legislation to support our service members and federal employees,\r\nstrengthen our national security, and invest in critical projects throughout\r\nMaryland. On the home front, this legislation provides funding to the many\r\nfederal agencies and military installations in Maryland that support our\r\nnational defense. It also includes a pay increase for our men and women in\r\nuniform, paid parental leave for all federal employees, and a repeal of the\r\ndisgraceful Widow's Tax. The bill addresses serious concerns we've raised on\r\nprivate military housing, including at Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground.\r\nAnd it incorporates legislation I've introduced to authorize the honorary\r\npromotion of Bethesda Veteran Col. Charles McGee and to ensure WWI minority\r\nVeterans are appropriately recognized for their acts of valor. In addition to\r\nsupporting the members of our Armed Forces and our civilian workforce, this\r\nbill included provisions I authored that will protect our national security\r\ninterests. While not perfect, I was pleased to support this compromise and\r\nsecure these priorities for Maryland and our country.   Priorities of Senator Van Hollen's included in\r\nthe final NDAA are:  \r\nProvisions to improve privatized military\r\nhousing at military bases including Maryland's Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving\r\nGround. Senator Van Hollen has been engaged with leaders at Fort Meade and\r\nAberdeen Proving Ground to address unacceptable conditions of military\r\nhousing caused by inadequate maintenance by private contractors at those\r\ninstallations. The NDAA includes key provisions of legislation co-sponsored by\r\nSenator Van Hollen entitled the Ensuring Safe Housing for Our Military Act.\r\nImprovements include withholding payment to\r\ncontractors of the Basic Allowance for Housing under certain circumstances; a\r\nTenant Bill of Rights; the creation of the position of Chief Housing Officer;\r\nthe addition of the oversight of military\r\nprivatized housing in performance evaluations\r\nof installation commanders; consideration\r\nof a landlord's history in the contract renewal process; a uniform code of basic standards for privatized military\r\nhousing; and access for tenants to an online work order system.  \r\nProvisions to repeal the Widow's Tax. Currently,\r\nmilitary widows and widowers who qualify for the VA's Dependency and Indemnity\r\nCompensation (DIC) are forced to take a dollar-for-dollar offset from the DOD\r\nSurvivors Benefits Plan (SBP) benefit, even though their retired spouses\r\nelected to pay into the program. SBP is a service member-purchased annuity,\r\nwhereas DIC is an indemnity payment when military service caused the member's\r\ndeath. No other federal surviving spouse is required to forfeit his or her\r\nfederal annuity because military service caused his or her sponsor's death.\r\nAdditionally, the offset does not apply to surviving military children -- only\r\nto the spouse. In September, Senator Van Hollen met with a constituent and\r\nmilitary widow who was subjected to this offset after the loss of her husband,\r\nand Senator Van Hollen promised he would continue to fight to repeal this\r\nprovision within the NDAA.  \r\nProvisions\r\nto guarantee paid parental leave for all federal employees. This\r\nlanguage will provide over 2 million federal workers with 12 weeks of paid\r\nleave to care for a new child after birth, adoption, or the initiation of\r\nfoster care. Senator Van Hollen is an original cosponsor of the FAMILY Act,\r\nwhich provides up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers,\r\nas well as the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act. He will continue to fight for\r\nall workers to receive paid family and medical leave. \r\nThe\r\nSenator's legislation to authorize the honorary promotion of Bethesda Veteran\r\nand Tuskegee Airman Col. (Ret.) Charles McGee. Col. McGee, a resident\r\nof Bethesda, Md., served with the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, completing\r\n136 combat missions. He completed an additional 100 combat missions in the\r\nKorean Conflict and 173 combat missions in the Vietnam War, amassing a record\r\nthree-war total of 409 combat missions  more than any other Air Force fighter\r\npilot. Col. McGee completed a distinguished 30-year career in the United States\r\nAir Force, serving in numerous leadership and command capacities and becoming\r\nthe first African American to command a stateside Air Force Wing and Base in\r\nthe integrated Air Force.  \r\nProvisions\r\nof the Senator's Valor Medals Review Act. These provisions require the\r\nDepartment of Defense to undertake a review of valor medals awarded to minority\r\nVeterans during WWI to determine whether any should receive the Medal of Honor.\r\nThe language encourages the Department to conduct this review in consultation\r\nwith the Valor Medals Review Task Force, a joint project of the\r\nCongressionally-established World War I Centennial Commission and the George S.\r\nRobb Centre for the Study of the Great War, which has conducted extensive\r\nresearch to identify WWI Veteran service records for this review.Service\r\nmembers of all races, religions, and backgrounds fought in WWI, but the Medal\r\nof Honor was not awarded to minority Veterans until the 1990s. Congress has\r\nauthorized more recent reviews for minority service members from World War II\r\nto the present, but the only review undertaken for WWI took place in 1919  and\r\nno minority Veterans received the Medal of Honor as a result of that review.\r\nAddressing this issue is long overdue. William Butler, an African American\r\nVeteran from Salisbury, Md. was recognized with the Croix de Guerre with Palm,\r\nthe Distinguished Service Cross, and a recommendation for the Medal of Honor \r\nbut he never received that award  the nation's highest military honor. This\r\nlegislation is designed to right that historic wrong and ensure that cases like\r\nWilliam Butler's get a fair review. \r\nAuthorization for new military construction\r\nprojects on Maryland defense installations. This authorization of funds supports\r\neverything from infrastructure improvements to new facilities. These funds are\r\nin addition to ongoing funding of all Maryland military installations that the\r\nSenator has supported in Defense Appropriations legislation.  \r\n$426 million for the National Security Agency at\r\nFort Meade \r\n$101 million for Joint Base Andrews  \r\n$27.8 million for Fort Detrick  \r\n$18.5 million for Naval Support Activity South\r\nPotomac \r\n$13.8 million for Naval Support Activity\r\nBethesda \r\n$12 million for the Army National Guard combined\r\nsupport maintenance shop in Havre de Grace  ###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 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://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-ndaa-final-passage"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4982230495661497, "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"}