Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) voted for H.R. 7776, which includes both the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), and the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which protects our communities and our country in critical ways.

“I was glad to vote today for a bill that protects our communities and country by supporting our service members and their families, strengthening our national security, and authorizing critical infrastructure projects,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “This bill authorizes a pay raise and vital benefits for service members, protects military supply chains, makes investments to improve military capability, and authorizes several of the water resources projects I advocated for that benefit our district and our region— including important modifications to the Houston Ship Channel Improvement Project, and the Coastal Texas Study, a transformative project to reduce storm surge at the coast, protecting our region and our country from catastrophic damage.”

H.R. 7776 addresses the following Houston priorities:

Defense 

• Vital benefits for service members and their families, including a 4.6 percent pay raise for service members and civilian personnel.

• Increased basic housing allowance, including a raised eligibility for servicemembers below certain income thresholds to qualify for a basic needs allowance;
• Support for spousal employment, including financial reimbursement for moving expenses for spouses with home businesses.
• Resources for mental health, including a program to equip civilian behavioral health providers to meet the unique challenges of service members and their families; and
• Resources for child care, including a five-year pilot program to reimburse servicemembers for childcare costs incurred by a permanent change of station, and authorization of childcare fee reductions for children of military child development center employees.

• New investments in science and technology competitiveness, including $138.9 billion for research and development interests across national security and future technologies, including funding for next-generation capabilities in hypersonics, electronic warfare, artificial intelligence, and 5G technology development.

• Supply chain security, including improved risk management of the Department of Defense’s supply chains and expanded authority of the National Defense Stockpile Manager to address shortfalls, and more than $1 billion for acquisition of strategic and critical materials for the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund.

• Military justice for survivors of sexual assault, including mandatory independent investigators outside of immediate chain of command to investigate cases of sexual harassment and permission for the Secretary of Defense to expand restricted reporting of sexual assault for civilian employees;

• Support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority serving institutions, including more than $131 million for HBCU funding and research partnerships, as well as the establishment of a pilot program to increase research capacity at minority serving institutions;

• Resources for U.S. allies and partners, including more than $800 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, more than $11.5 billion in funding for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, and more than $6 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative; and

• Civilian harm mitigation measures, including the establishment of a Civilian Harm Center for Excellence at the Department of Defense that will help efforts to track and publicly report on civilians hurt and killed by U.S. military operations abroad, as well as the authorization of $25 million for the implementation of a Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan.

Water Infrastructure Projects

• Technical assistance for local partners for the removal of sediment obstructing inflow channels to the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs;

• Construction of important sections of the Houston Ship Channel Expansion Project to strengthen our nation’s largest port for waterborne tonnage;

• A feasibility study to incorporate the construction of barge lanes to a depth of 12 feet as part of the Houston Ship Channel Expansion Project, making barge lanes safer for vessels; and

• The Coastal Texas Study, a critical project to stop storm surges at the Gulf Coast and protect our national security. 

In March, Congresswoman Fletcher advocated for the inclusion of the Coastal Texas Study in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 when she testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.