Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz (FL-6) released the following statement regarding the passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in the House:

“I am proud to support passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and thank Kevin McCarthy and Ranking Member Mike Rogers for their leadership in securing the repeal of the COVID vaccine mandate that is crushing our recruitment and retention of military personnel,” said Waltz. “With its passage, we will be providing the men and women of our military services a 4.6% pay increase, requiring the Army to establish gender-neutral fitness standards for combat occupational specialties, reaffirming America’s support for Taiwan’s defense, making permanent the Pentagon’s prohibition on procurements sourced from Uyghur slave labor, and authorizing new construction projects across Florida’s military facilities at Flagler Palm Coast NG Maintenance Facility, Patrick Space Force Base, Camp Blanding Army NG Joint Training Center, MacDill Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base, and Jacksonville (JAX) Air National Guard.

“We still have much work to do next Congress in ensuring our military is equipped to face the threats of the Chinese Communist Party and other adversaries, providing oversight of the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, eliminating politicization of the military, and continuing to improve the quality of life for our troops and their families to ensure we continue to have the greatest fighting force in the world, capable of defending our freedoms from all threats.”

The final FY23 NDAA includes Waltz’s priorities to:

1.    Authorize joint, commander level, multi-domain, interoperable military exercises with Taiwan to help prepare and protect the island from potential Chinese military aggression

2.    Permanently prohibit purchases of goods by the Defense Department from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China

3.    Require the universities in China that support the Chinese Communist Party’s military to be identified and listed by the Defense Department and intelligence agencies

4.    Allocate funding for new construction projects at Florida military facilities, including Automated Multipurpose Machine Gun Range, Patrick Space Force Base, Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, MacDill Air Force Base, and Eglin Air Force Base

5.    Set gender-neutral fitness standards for combat military occupational specialties in the U.S. Army

6.    Ensure critically injured members of the Armed Forces are afforded protections, privileges, and rights to due process through the Wounded Warrior Bill of Rights

7.    Expand the Defense Department’s stockpile of rare-earth elements and critical minerals, requires country of origin disclosures

8.    Require annual reporting and accountability requirements for military working dogs and a prohibition on abandonment of military working dogs outside of the U.S.

9.    Require comprehensive Inspectors General oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine, including end-user monitoring

10. Require a plan to direct military construction funding to the Baltic states and Eastern Europe from Germany

11. Increase funding for Space Force’s rapid and responsive launch program

12. Require a federal government strategy for research and development efforts on blockchain, or distributed ledger technologies

13. Fully fund the Armed Overwatch program for U.S. Special Forces

14. Require DoD to provide Congress with a plan to improve defense cooperation with Caribbean nations to combat Chinese influence in the country

15. Restrict the sale of certain Chinese products in U.S. military base exchanges or commissaries

16. Mandate a review of all members of the Armed Forces identified in criminal investigations from the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program and giving them an opportunity to appeal their designation

17. Authorize DoD to acquire flexible workspace services, to include spaced configured for classified information use, to attract and retain top technology personnel

18. Repeal the Post-Widow’s Tax, allowing veterans that withdrew from the Survivor Benefit Program due to the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset, to re-enroll and catch-up on missed payments

19. Allocate additional funding for procurement of Florida-made Sonobuoys for the U.S. Navy

20. Prohibit Joint Use Authorization for civil aviation at the Homestead Air Reserve Base