House Passes National Defense, Veterans Bills with Two Kelly Amendments

Statement

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 4909, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017, which funds the United States Armed Forces and ensures that American troops have the resources required to successfully defend the homeland and achieve their missions abroad, by a bipartisan vote of 277-247 yesterday evening. The legislation included two amendments offered by U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA): the first, to ban funding by the Department of Defense (DoD) for the implementation of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT); the second, to prohibit the use of DoD funds to dismantle the U.S. stockpile of anti-personnel landmines (APLs). The House also passed H.R. 4974, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, today by a bipartisan vote of 295-129.

Statement by Rep. Kelly on passage of NDAA:

"The People's House has fulfilled its sacred duty to provide our nation's defenders and warfighters with the resources they need to defeat our enemies and keep Americans safe. Among other features, this NDAA also includes a well-earned 2.1 percent pay raise for our troops and blocks the president's ability to reduce their pay. Additionally, I am very pleased that my colleagues unanimously approved my commonsense amendments to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to undermine our sovereignty or the safety of our soldiers on the battlefield. I look forward to the Senate following our lead and sending this critical legislation to the president's desk to become law."

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