The House Armed Services Committee passed HR4350, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022. The NDAA was adopted with bipartisan support after Congressman Mike Rogers’, R-Alabama, bipartisan amendment to increase the NDAA topline by nearly $25 billion. This ensuring growth of three percent above inflation. Increasing the topline has been a priority for Ranking Member Rogers and the House Armed Services Committee Republicans to ensure that the United States is adequately prepared for future conflict.
“The bipartisan adoption of my amendment sends a clear signal: the President’s budget submission was wholly inadequate to keep pace with a rising China and a re-emerging Russia,” Rogers said. “I hope this bipartisan, and now bicameral, move is understood by the Biden-Harris administration. The defense of our nation will not be shortchanged by Congress. I thank my colleagues for adopting this amendment to support the men and women who serve in our armed forces.”
Following a lengthy debate and consideration of a number of amendments, the House Armed Services Committee passed the NDAA after midnight.
“I am pleased that the Armed Services Committee once again passed a National Defense Authorization Act out of the Committee this morning,” Rogers said. “We did so in a bipartisan manner, including voting together to address the shortfall in the Biden budget. I thank Chairman Smith and our Republican and Democrat colleagues for their hard work on this year’s NDAA markup. I look forward to this bill moving to the floor and being signed into law.”
Congressman Adam Smith, D-Washington, is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
“For more than sixty years this committee’s focus has been to provide the Department of Defense and the men and women who serve our country with the tools to meet the ever-changing national security threats we face,” Smith said. “For the sixty-first consecutive year, the Armed Services Committee has fulfilled its critical responsibility and completed, on a bipartisan basis, a defense bill that will bolster our national security and provide for the common defense.”
“This year the defense bill focuses on transforming DoD to better deter our adversaries while taking advantage of new, innovative technologies and implementing more cost-effective approach to develop and acquire crucial platforms,” Smith said. “The future of our defense depends on our committee’s tough policy discussions about what DoD needs, how to fill these needs, and the necessary tradeoffs to ensure the United States maintains a competitive edge over its adversaries.”
“I want to thank Ranking Member Rogers for his tireless work and commitment to bipartisanship as we drafted this year’s bill,” Smith said. “The Armed Services Committee has a storied history of bipartisanship and that is no accident – the work is hard, and our disagreements can run deep. Democracy is not always easy but having a willing counterpart in the legislative process is critical to ensuring our military has the essential resources they need to combat threats at home and abroad. As the NDAA now moves to the floor, I look forward to our continued partnership.”
The NDAA passed 57 to 2. It now advances to the House floor.
Rogers is the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. Rogers is serving in his 10thterm representing Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District following prior service representing Calhoun County in the state Legislature and on the Calhoun County Commission.
