Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher voted to pass S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022, which will authorize—among other things—a pay raise for military families, a historic 32 percent increase in military research and development funding, and funding for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders to be relocated.  The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 363-70.

“We owe it to our military servicemembers to honor our obligations by passing the annual defense authorization bill,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “I am glad this bill addresses the ongoing surge in sexual assault complaints in the military by taking sexual assault and other serious crimes out of the chain of command to be investigated by independent prosecutors.  And as a representative for Houston, where our veteran and foreign-born populations are important members of our community, I am pleased this bill authorizes relocation support for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders.  Keeping our country safe means investing in our servicemembers and this bill does just that.” 

Congress has passed the NDAA for 61 consecutive years.  The 2022 NDAA authorizes $768 billion in discretionary spending for national defense, works to close the pay gap by funding a 2.7 percent pay increase for uniformed servicemembers, establishes a $15 minimum wage for covered service and construction contractors, gives the D.C. mayor control of the D.C. National Guard, makes investments to modernize military infrastructure, and takes full advantage of our diverse talent pool to meet the complex national security challenges of today and tomorrow.

Other highlights include:

• Investing in R&D Across the Country: authorizes more than $4 billion in funding for research, development, testing, and evaluation, including a historic 32 percent increase in defense-wide research and development, and significant increases to basic and applied research, academic partnerships, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities activities; authorizes $2.5 billion in military construction to recapitalize aging laboratory infrastructure and support future R&D efforts of national importance.

• Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (SIV): expresses the sense of Congress about the importance of the program and honoring our commitments to those Afghan partners, who at great personal risk, supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. Further clarifies legislation with regard to Afghans and their families who supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and authorizes $500 million for Department of Defense relocation support to SIVs and at-risk Afghans.

• Independent Investigations of Sexual Harassment: requires military services to investigate sexual harassment allegations against servicemembers using specialized personnel outside the chain of command who are trained to investigate sexual harassment.

• Action Taken Against Assailants: makes a technical fix to the law that prevented DoD from informing a survivor of sex-related offenses of adverse actions taken to hold the perpetrator accountable.

• Victims’ Rights: provides victims of an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice the right to be informed of pre-trial agreements, separation-in-lieu-of-trial agreements, and non-prosecution agreements; and require the Secretary of Defense to establish policies to share certain evidence, such as the statements of a victim and forensic examinations of the victim, with a Special Victims’ Counsel or Victims’ Legal Counsel.

• Additional Data on Military Sexual Assault: updates the Annual Sexual Assault Report to include breakdowns of sexual assault prevalence by installation, occupational area, gender, race, and ethnicity.

• Contraceptive Coverage Copays: requires TRICARE to offer similar contraceptive coverage currently provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by removing cost sharing though the mail order and retail pharmacy program for related contraceptive care. 

• Post-Partum Care Improvements: requires a pilot program in support of post-natal care, to include pelvic health rehabilitation, and the issuance of policy guidance to develop and implement standard protocols across the Military Health System to treat obstetric hemorrhage. 

• Mental Health: directs the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a program to provide direct assistance for mental health appointment scheduling at military medical treatment facilities and clinics, with a reporting requirement to the Armed Services Committee.

• Climate and Energy: authorizes combatant commander initiative funds to be used for the purpose of enhancing extreme weather resilience of infrastructure and requires the Department of Defense to incorporate extreme weather risk considerations into certain existing Department of Defense strategies and planning documents.