As the U.S. House of Representatives approved an annual defense policy bill Friday that is loaded with conservative priorities, the Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled its version of the defense budget.
The Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes more than $800 million for Virginia military construction projects. The plan overall provides a 4.5% pay raise for military personnel, and an additional 1% pay raise for junior enlisted service members with paygrades E-1 through E-3. It includes a 2% pay raise for Department of Defense civilian employees.
“This is a very good (raise) at a time when our service members and their families need it,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Friday during a virtual news conference. “We are really happy we were able to do that and it was extremely bipartisan.”
The committee passed the bill Thursday by a 22-3 vote. It authorizes $923 billion in spending. It will now head to the full Senate.
Among the military construction projects it would fund in Hampton Roads: $81 million for a dormitory at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, $54 million for dry dock modernization at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and $52 million for long weapons storage and $47 million for a conventional prompt strike test facility, both at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.
“That includes significant investments in housing, child care and development centers, as well as what you might consider normal facility improvements,” said Kaine, a member of the armed services committee who chairs its Subcommittee on Seapower.
The House version, which authorizes over $895 billion in funding to the Department of Defense, passed Friday on a mostly party-line vote of 217-199. The bill would offer much higher pay raises than the Senate version: a 19.5% pay raise for junior enlisted members and a 4.5% pay raise for other officers. Included in the bill are numerous amendments put forth by Republicans that are sure to clash with priorities of the Democrat-controlled Senate, including restrictions on access to abortion and transgender medical care in the military, a rollback of diversity protections, and limits on federal climate action.
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, voted for the bill. In a statement, she said the House version authorizes $807 million for 14 military construction projects in Virginia, including $55 million for Hampton Roads projects.
“At a time when our nation is facing complex threats across the globe, this bill ensures we are both supporting our military community here at home and giving our warfighters the capabilities they need to succeed in any future conflict,” Kiggans said. “I look forward to working with our colleagues in the Senate to get this bill across the finish line so we can stay ahead of our adversaries and prioritize the servicemembers and their families who sacrifice so much to protect our great country.”
Kaine noted the Senate legislation overall made “very solid” investments in sea power.
The Senate bill includes an additional $900 million in funding to enhance the submarine industrial base and support the construction of a second Virginia-class submarine, according to news release from Kaine’s office. It would provide increased funding for the procurement of surface vessels, undersea vessels, aircraft, and munitions.
It would also direct the Navy to work with submarine shipbuilders to establish a process to bring new suppliers into the submarine industrial base more quickly.
“I think this is a bill that continues to be a very strong one in the demand signal it sends about Navy and Marine investments,” Kaine said. “I think Virginia is as closely connected to that sea power mission — ships, subs, Navy, Marines — as any state, and particularly as we pivot more and more to activity in the Indo-Pacific, investments in sea power are going to be critical.”
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
