Press Releases
Washington, D.C. – "With the United States facing numerous and escalating threats from around the world, along our borders, and increasingly within the confines of our homeland because of Joe Biden’s unprecedented destruction of U.S. border security, I cast my vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While the legislation was not perfect and contains elements I will continue to work to resolve, especially as they relate to the privacy of American citizens and abuse of surveillance by government agencies, the vast majority of the bill provides critical direction and funding from Congress to deal with a panoply of new and emerging dangers threatening our country and the safety of all Americans."
Key Republican provisions added in order to help protect our homeland and southern border
- We can all see how overwhelmed and overworked our Border Patrol agents are, this year’s NDAA fully funds deploying National Guard troops to support our Border Patrol.
- The NDAA also forces the Biden Administration to either build the border wall or transfer border wall materials to states like Texas, which is already working to build barriers.
- Funding for programs that will combat fentanyl trafficking and hold China responsible for collaborating with Mexican drug cartels to poison Americans.
Investing in our troops, their training, well-being, and their families
- Servicemember Pay and Benefits - supports a 5.2% increase in Servicemember basic pay, the largest pay raise in over 20 years.
- Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to pay junior enlisted members a monthly bonus to counteract the effects of Biden’s record-high inflation.
- Improves the Basic Allowance for Housing calculation to increase reimbursement for junior enlisted Servicemembers and counteract soaring rental rates.
- Expands Basic Needs Allowance to assist low-income Servicemembers supporting a family.
Dealing with the rising threat from the Communist Chinese
- Republicans demanded and successfully added key provisions to increase military readiness, expand programs to deal with new Chinese threats in space and cyberspace, and move production of our weaponry and weapons systems away from the CCP.
- Extends the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to enhance U.S. deterrence and defense posture in the Indo-Pacific region. Funds the initiative at $14.7 billion, an increase of $5.6 billion over the budget request. Authorizes over $987 million in INDOPACOM Commander priorities left unfunded in the Biden budget.
- Increases funding and provides multi-year procurement authority for munitions critical to the fight, including advanced autonomous drones, precision missiles, and anti-ship capabilities. Increases funding for innovative new technologies needed to deter the CCP on future battlefields, including AI, autonomous systems, cyber, mobile micronuclear reactors, and high energy lasers. Requires the DoD to undertake efforts to expand the deployable capacity of U.S. nuclear forces to counter the CCP’s unprecedented nuclear buildup.
Getting rid of the “woke” DEI infestation of our military
- As self-destructive Leftist ideology rampages across college campuses where students have been taught to hate America, so too have these garbage theories and victimology training been force fed into our military, weakening our military readiness and motivation of our fighting forces. Only because of Republican demands were we able to advance key reforms to start gutting DEI and it’s destructive practices from our military.
- Banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) - Prohibits funding for the teaching, training, or promotion of CRT in the military, including at service academies and DoD schools.
- Guts the Pentagon’s DEI bureaucracy by putting in place a DEI hiring freeze and cutting and capping the pay of DEI bureaucrats.
- Restoring Meritocracy - requires all military promotions and accessions to be based on individual merit and demonstrated performance.
"Taken together, these important provisions, and scores of others, made meaningful changes to reverse the hollowing out of our military readiness and lethality the Biden Administration had caused through ineptitude and extremist ideology. Just as I have always done, I will continue to work on behalf of the people of North Texas to ensure the security of our nation is put first and our military is able to project power, deal with all threats, and effectively eliminate those who seek to harm our nation or our future."
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