National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of the fiscal year 2022 NDAA. I would like to start by thanking Chairman Smith; Ranking Member Rogers; and my colleague on the subcommittee, Mr. Lamborn; and, of course, the House Armed Services staff who have worked many long nights putting this NDAA together. The bill that is before the House is a good bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

The jurisdiction of the Readiness Subcommittee covers a broad range of topics from civilian personnel, sustainment, and contested logistics to military construction, energy safety and environmental policy. With that in mind, I would just like to highlight some of the issues we have dealt with.

Consistent with our work over the last 2 years, the readiness provisions continue efforts to address the climate change challenges of extreme weather and the necessity to reduce the greenhouse gas emitted by the U.S. military--the largest single emitter in the world. We require each installation to develop a master plan to do these things.

The health and safety of our servicemembers will always be a top priority of the subcommittee. The bill elevates the department's focus on safety by establishing the Joint Safety Council and requiring the DOD to develop a plan for the establishment of a Mishap Investigation Review Board to provide oversight and independent review of safety and mishap investigations.

This mark continues the subcommittee's work to improve the conditions for the servicemembers and their quality-of-life infrastructures, such as military family housing, barracks, and child development centers.

We also step up the military's requirement to address the PFAS contamination on and off bases.

The bill helps advance our military's near-term readiness goals and drives the department to plan for and take action against long-term threats.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the fiscal year 2022 NDAA.

Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). I would like to start by thanking Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Rogers, and the House Armed Services Committee staff who have worked many long nights putting together this year's NDAA. The bill that is before the House is a good bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.

As the Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, I believe the bill upholds our responsibility to provide congressional oversight of and support to the sustainment, logistics, infrastructure, and readiness of our military. I'd like to take a moment and thank my staff for their tireless work--the Readiness Subcommittee staff, Jeanine Womble, Melanie Harris, Jay Vallario, Wendell White, Ian Bennitt, Dave Sienicki, and Sean Falvey, and my personal staff, Betsy Thompson, Rebecca Wolf, and Scott Bohn. I am proud of the Readiness Subcommittee's contribution to this year's bill, and I'd like to highlight the following provisions.

Consistent with our work from the last two years, the Readiness provisions in the NDAA continue efforts to address the climate change challenges of extreme weather and the necessity to reduce the greenhouse gases emitted by the U.S. military, the largest single entity in the world. The bill:

Requires each military department to complete installation master plans at two of their most at-risk installations within one year of enactment;

Requires the Department to amend DOD building codes to require consideration of microgrids with islanding capability as part of planned new construction, and encourages the department to renegotiate contracts related to existing on-installation renewable energy projects to enhance installation resiliency during power disruptions;

Requires installation commanders to consult with local governments to ensure installation master plans include outside the fence line resiliency considerations;

Requires the Department to assess energy and water usage at existing data centers and set conservation goals for new data centers; and

Requires the Department to include EV charging infrastructure needs in their planning for new domestic military construction, and requires the Department to adopt industry standard planning considerations in the development and rollout of charging infrastructure at military installations.

The bill also builds on efforts to address contested logistics challenges involving near-peer competitors by strengthening operational energy programs:

Requires the Department to create a working group of program planners, energy staff, joint staff, and geographic combatant commands to enhance integration of military department energy initiatives into operational planning and platform development to combat contested logistics challenges;

Requires the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment to report on alternative fuels and mandates the conduct of a wholistic review of the associated production, transportation, geopolitical, commercial, and research and development of alternative energy; and

Requires the Secretary of Defense to designate a Combatant Command as the agency responsible for global bulk fuel storage, delivery, and distribution, and directs the so-designated Combatant Command to conduct a strategy on the infrastructure and programs necessary to optimally support global bulk fuel management of the Department of Defense.

The FY22 NDAA also builds on the Committee's previous legislative and oversight activities to address poor conditions in barracks, child development centers and housing:

Requires the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment to report on and provide a list of domestic facilities and average facility childcare wait list, assess efforts to find solutions and reduce wait times, assess the extent to which staffing availability impacts childcare availability, and assess whether including childcare facilities in agreements for new private housing would be an effective solution;

Requires the military departments to conduct safety inspections and develop 10-year facility improvement plans for child development centers; and

Requires the Department to place higher priority on the sustainment of quality-of-life facilities such as barracks by setting aside a percentage of infrastructure sustainment funds for that purpose.

Additionally, the bill builds on the committee's oversight activities to address preventable training accidents and build a culture of safety in the military departments:

Establishes a Joint Safety Council within the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense that advises on all operational safety matters, establishes safety standards, collects and analyzes safety data, and develops safety priorities;

Addresses concerns about the quality and objectivity of the military department's mishap investigations by directing the Deputy Secretary of Defense to develop a plan for the establishment of a Mishap Investigation Review Board, which would provide oversight and independent review of mishap investigations;

Requires the Secretaries of the Army and Marine Corps to develop a plan to address the recommendations contained in GAO's recent report on tactical vehicle mishaps; and

Requires the Secretary of Defense to review the risks, benefits, and plans for enhancing the protections for combat uniforms in an effort to protect service members from flash fires.

Furthermore, the bill continues efforts to address contamination associated with per- and polyfluorinated compounds on and around military installations:

Requires the Department of Defense to review current practices to prevent or mitigate AFFF spills and promulgate best practices for spill prevention and mitigation, enterprise wide;

Increases transparency and facilitates information-sharing with defense communities impacted by PFAS contamination; and

Places a temporary moratorium on the incineration of PFAS- contaminated materials until DOD adopts and promulgates EPA interim guidance for disposal.

The bill continues to build on efforts to support the Department of Defense civilian workforce:

Requires the Secretary of Defense to provide a report detailing the number of military, civilian, and contractor personnel assigned to or employed by OSD over the past ten years, to assess whether the number of civilian billets in OSD-Policy has kept pace with changes in the organization's mission over time, and to provide a recommendation as to whether an increase to OSD's statutory personnel caps is necessary to ensure sufficient civilian staffing and enable corrective action for any inappropriate contracting;

Prohibits changes to the size or function of the Naval Audit Service until the Comptroller General completes a report on the operations of the Naval Audit Service;

Requires the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to address the recommendations contained in the Comptroller General of the United States report entitled ``Sexual Harassment and Assault: Guidance Needed to Ensure Consistent Tracking, Response, and Training for Department of Defense Civilians;'' and

Requires that the Secretary of Defense to establish relevant metrics, collect and report on diversity statistics, and report on the status of diversity and inclusion efforts among the civilian work force.

The bill also continues efforts to ensure modern weapons systems are sustainable and affordable over time and to support our industrial base:

Requires the Comptroller General to report on organic maintenance capability and capacity within the F-35 program including depot standup, technical data requirements, unique tooling, and contractor assistance in depot standup; assess the potential to transition supply- chain management from a contractor-led to a government-led function, and; assess key field-level maintenance challenges as well as mitigating actions.

Requires the Comptroller General to provide annual reports in the years 2022-2025 on the F-35 program sustainment system, including an analysis of the sustainment strategy, an analysis of the Department's ability to reduce costs toward affordability metrics, and an analysis of the Department's efforts to provide oversight of key contractor-led sustainment functions.

Requires the Secretary of Defense to initiate a pilot program to develop a digital twin of the facilities and operations of at least one government-owned and operated military depot that is not a shipyard.

Requires the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology to review efforts to digitize field-level maintenance for ground vehicles.

The FY22 NDAA supports the missions at Travis and Beale Air Force Bases in my district, and I'm also pleased this NDAA includes a 2.7 percent pay raise for our troops. Additional provisions that I was instrumental in securing include:

Requiring the Secretary of Defense to continue the FireGuard program, where the National Guard assists in detecting and monitoring wildfires, for at least the next five years;

Including bill language that adds transparency to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, and that aligns requirements for charter transportation of both Department of Defense personnel and cargo;

Prohibiting the use of open-air burn pits during overseas contingency operations unless an exemption is issued by the President of The United States for a particular location. Thirty days after an exemption is granted, the President would be required to submit a report to Congress detailing the location, size, duration, and need of the burn pit, the number of personnel assigned to the location, and the personal protective equipment or other methods that will be used by those personnel to mitigate the health effects of said pit;

Directing the Department to pay fees associated with the transfer of adopted dogs to the adoption agency or individual and directing the inclusion of veterinary care and services into the Joint Trauma Education and Training Directorate;

Including significant Facilities Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) projects on DOD's online listing of military construction projects and MILCON contracting awards; and

Authorizing the Maritime Administrator to use appropriated funds to purchase duplicate medals authorized under the Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2020. This awards the Congressional Gold Medal--one of our nation's highest honors--to the Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II.

This bill helps advance our military's near-term readiness goals and drives the Department to plan for and take action against long-term threats, and with that, I urge my colleagues to support the FY22 NDAA.

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