Congressman Kelly's FY23 NDAA Contribution

Our Metrics:

74 proposals championed by Congressman Kelly were included in the committee’s version of the bill and its accompanying report. This includes 23 amendments passed unanimously during mark-up. (17 sponsored by CTK, 6 co-sponsored).

Highlights from the Topline Amendment:

• Increases defense topline by nearly $37 billion, ensuring growth of nearly 4 percent above inflation.
• Provides for $850 billion in total defense spending in FY23, a $53.9 billion (6.8 percent) increase over FY22 enacted.
• Additional funding to reduce impacts of inflation on military service members and their families, such as:
• $800 million for 2.4% inflationary pay bonus for enlisted personnel making less than $45,000 per year (ranks E-1 – E-5)
• $250 million for additional housing allowances
• $250 million to reduce costs of food and other necessities at military commissaries

• Authorization to procure additional equipment which will benefit critical industries in MS, including naval and shipbuilding, tactical vehicle manufacturing, radar manufacturing, rocket propellants for long-range precision fires testing, and metals and composites fabrication.

In addition, the committee’s bill contains numerous legislative proposals sponsored by Congressman Kelly, including:

Improved Benefits to National Guard and Reserve service members  

• Dental Care for our Troops Act, sponsored with Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-03), which ensures all National Guard and reservists have access to no-fee dental care like active-duty servicemembers do, even when they are not on active status.
• Fought back against the Democrats, and won, flipping 4 Democrat votes to prevent a federal Inspector General inspection into Operation Lone Star. Because this administration has refused to acknowledge the crisis at the border, the Texas National Guard has been deployed to the border on state active duty orders, at a cost to the state. This provision would have permitted the federal Inspector General offices to investigate how a state chooses to organize, arm, and employ it’s National Guard, decreasing states’ rights and adding unnecessary layers of bureaucracy.
• Military Fitness Incentive Tuition (FIT) Act, which allows the Department of Defense to reimburse service members for a gym membership if they reside more than 10 miles from an installation. With the rollout of the new ACFT, it is imperative that our service members, especially our Guardsmen/women and Reservists who may reside hours from a military installation’s fitness facilities, have the ability to properly train for the fitness test.
• National Guard Promotion Improvement Act, sponsored by Rep. Anthony Brown (MD-04), which will backdate the effective rank for Reserve Component officers facing undue delays in Federal Recognition.
• Authorized $350,000,000 for the Army National Guard to receive the MQ-1C Extended Range Predator drones, which active component divisions already have. The generators for each of these drones are made in Tupelo.
• Directs the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Army to submit reports on:
• the feasibility of establishing a Ranger Battalion for the National Guard;
• delegating to state National Guards the disbursements of Federal Tuition Assistance to avoid the systemic delays in individual Soldiers receiving their benefits; and
• incentivizing and streamlining transitions of active component Special Forces Soldiers to the 19^th and 20^th Special Forces Groups in the National Guard.
• feasibility of establishing a Center for the Study of the National Guard which will serve as an archive for National Guard documents and a think tank to study and improve how the National Guard is employed.

Supporting Jobs and Industries in Mississippi:

• Authorized advanced procurement for the next amphibious assault ship in the LPD Flight II line, advanced procurement for another ship in the LHA 10 line, and authorization to procure an additional destroyer ship. The construction of these additional ships will create and sustain jobs at Ingalls Shipbuilding, the largest manufacturing employer in Mississippi.
• Authorized $8M for the Army to purchase the Purpose-Built Non-Standard Combat Vehicle (PB-NSCV), which will be manufactured by Navistar Defense. Navistar has an assembly plant in West Point, MS.
• Authorized additional $67M in procurement of two additional ship-sets for the Next Generation Jammer-Mid Band, which is manufactured by Raytheon in Forest, MS. Also secured an additional $30M in research and development to expand the jammer’s electronic warfare capability, which will continue support to the manufacturing plant in Forest, MS for years to come.
• Authorized an additional $25M for composites used in wet submarine applications, propellers for naval hovercraft, and in long-range precision fires. This funding will support Seeman Composites in Gulfport MS, and create an additional 25 advanced skill-set jobs there.
• Authorized over $24M for the Navy’s deployment and operation of twelve autonomous underwater and surface vehicles with sensor packages. This will support the creation of additional high-tech jobs in Gulfport, MS at Ocean Aero, which recently relocated to Gulfport from San Diego last year.
• Authorized $15M for the aluminum lithium alloy program, which creates solid rocket motor fuel for long-range precision fires. This funding will support testing of long-range precision fires out of Redstone Arsenal, with rocket fuel produced by Adranos in McHenry, Mississippi. Adranos is home to the first aluminum lithium alloy solid rocket motor production facility in the United States, and has plans to create at least 25 more jobs at its facility in McHenry.