Omaha City Wire

Rep. Don Bacon expressed satisfaction with the passage of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which he supported alongside a bipartisan majority in the House. The bill, H.R. 5009, known as the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act, passed with a vote of 281 to 140.

Bacon, who serves as Chairman of both the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Quality of Life Panel and the Cyber, Information Technology, and Innovation Subcommittee, highlighted that "this year’s NDAA is built around the needs of the All-Volunteer Force." He described it as a "historic victory for our service members and military families."

The NDAA authorizes $895 billion for national defense—approximately three percent of U.S. GDP—with investments targeting defense industrial base enhancement, munitions production, and critical technologies such as artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons. It aligns with spending agreements from the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Key reforms include comprehensive changes to military quality of life programs aimed at improving pay, housing, healthcare, childcare, and support for military spouses. A targeted pay increase of 14.5 percent is authorized for junior enlisted service members along with a general four-and-a-half percent raise for all other service members.

Further provisions address modernization efforts within the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise to maintain deterrent capabilities. Additionally, measures are included to combat antisemitism while imposing restrictions on divisive ideologies like critical race theory.

Bacon also championed specific legislative measures such as establishing a unified command for cyber defense under U.S. Cyber Command and making permanent the Department of Defense Hackathon Program. The act mandates strategic assessments on space security in collaboration with Middle Eastern allies including Israel.

Funding allocations include $158 million towards planning and design at Offutt Air Force Base related to basing operations for E-4C aircrafts and $13 million dedicated to USSTRATCOM's NC3 rapid engineering architecture initiative.

Bacon emphasized that this legislation prioritizes servicemembers' quality of life: “This year’s NDAA prioritizes the servicemembers and military families who valiantly dedicate their lives to defending us by making their quality of life the cornerstone of this legislation.”