Kentucky soldiers and civil service workers will benefit from the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act which includes pay raises and funding for new equipment at Fort Campbell and other military-related institutions across the state.
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says this legislation authorizes well-deserved funding increases for our nation’s military heroes. Included in the Defense Authorization Act is the highest pay raise in twenty years for both military service members and Department of Defense civilian workers to address recruiting and retention problems. $847 billion in top-line funding for military and national security programs, which is $45 billion more than President Biden requested, to respond to inflation and heightened security risks around the globe. And $1 billion to replenish our national defense stockpile with modern weaponry, supporting defense industrial manufacturing jobs in Kentucky, and across the country.
The bill includes several provisions that specifically benefit Kentucky and increase the Commonwealth’s role in America’s defense. The provisions include a renewed commitment to modernize Army equipment, keeping Kentucky’s Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division at the forefront of America’s air assault framework.
Also included is $20 million for the University of Louisville’s Cybersecurity Workforce Development Program. In 2019, Senator McConnell authored the provision and later secured the funding necessary to help create this program at the university. $350 million for the acquisition of the first Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems for Army National Guard units. Continued funding for the National Guard Counter-Drug Education and Eradication Program, which supports illicit drug eradication efforts in Eastern Kentucky. Full funding for the ongoing Chemical Demilitarization Pilot Program at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky, to address cost increases caused by inflation. Authorization for a feasibility study for the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky, to support future development as the site transitions from its chemical weapons demilitarization program.
The legislation rescinds the Pentagon’s requirement that all troops receive the COVID-19 vaccine, even if they have already been immunized through prior infection.
And it provides the Service-member Parents Bill of Rights, which grants access to information about classroom curriculum, budgets, and disciplinary policies to parents in the military who send their children to Department of Defense Education Activity schools.
