Defense Authorization Bill Includes Key Ayotte Measures

Press Release

On Thursday, the Senate approved the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 86-13. The annual defense policy bill supports the men and women of our armed forces and their families, and authorizes the equipment and resources our service members need to complete their missions. The bill now goes to the President for his signature.

Senator Ayotte, a member of the conference committee, successfully included in the final bill several proposals that she authored or co-sponsored, including measures that will support modernization at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, help prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from being funneled to our enemies, and reauthorize a small business program that benefits New Hampshire's small technology firms. Senator Ayotte was also successful in including several amendments she authored that will help reduce wasteful and duplicative spending in the Pentagon's budget and will help maintain our nation's military readiness. Senator Ayotte, along with Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and John McCain (R-AZ), included language that ensured no earmarks were included in the final version of the NDAA.

"With our country at war, approving the annual defense policy bill has been a major priority for me. We owe our troops nothing less, and I look forward to this important legislation being signed into law," said Senator Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee. "With our nation facing a fiscal crisis, the Pentagon and congressional leaders need reliable financial data to distinguish between necessary defense budget cuts and reductions that would harm our troops and threaten readiness. I will continue to lead the push for an expedited and full audit of the Department of Defense."

She continued: "This legislation includes good news for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. A measure that the New Hampshire and Maine delegations have worked to advance will require the Navy to submit a plan to address the modernization project backlog at our nation's public shipyards, including Portsmouth. The workers at PNSY set the standard for maintaining our nation's nuclear submarine fleet, and I will continue to be a strong advocate for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard."

"Finally, given the urgent need for contracting reform at the Pentagon, I'm pleased that the report includes a provision I authored with Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) to help prevent taxpayer dollars from falling into the hands of America's enemies," she said.

AYOTTE PROVISIONS IN THE FY 2012 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT:

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Modernization

A provision in the bill cosponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Kelly Ayotte requires the Navy to provide a plan to Congress detailing how it will fund infrastructure improvements at the nation's four public shipyards, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The amendment will help address the modernization backlog at Portsmouth.

Reauthorization of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program

Senator Ayotte was instrumental in securing a vote to include a bipartisan amendment she cosponsored that will reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a competitive initiative aimed at bolstering small high-tech companies. As a member of the Small Business Committee, Senator Ayotte has strongly advocated for reauthorization of the SBIR program, which aims to increase participation of small defense and technology companies in federally funded research and development through competitive grants. The funding comes from within government agencies' existing research and development budgets. The SBIR program was created in 1982 through legislation authored by former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman.

No Contracting with the Enemy

The "No Contracting with the Enemy" provision authored by Senator Ayotte and Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) aims to make it easier for U.S. contracting officials to void contracts with contractors who funnel taxpayer resources to enemies of the United States, such as the Taliban. The Commission on Wartime Contracting recently reported that as much as $60 billion in taxpayer dollars has been wasted or misspent in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the second largest source of income for insurgents is U.S. contracting dollars.

Strategic Airlift Aircraft Floor

Senator Ayotte successfully included in the final NDAA legislation an amendment that will allow the Air Force to reduce unnecessary military aircraft - an action that will save taxpayers $1.2 billion. The measure would allow the Air Force to reduce the strategic airlift aircraft floor from 316 to 301 aircraft; it is identical to the Strategic Airlift Force Structure Reform Act of 2011 (S. 1704) introduced by Senator Ayotte and fellow Armed Services Committee member Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). Senior Air Force officials have testified that the service would retire 15 C-5As, which is the oldest model of C-5 aircraft, in Fiscal Year 2012.

Pentagon Audit

Reflecting an amendment cosponsored by Senator Ayotte, the conference report includes language that requires the Department of Defense to submit a plan for meeting DoD's financial improvement and audit readiness milestones. The Pentagon is one of only two cabinet-level departments that is not prepared to undergo an audit. Senator Ayotte authored and introduced an amendment that would have also required the Pentagon to complete a full statement of budget resources by September 30, 2014. This amendment passed the Senate unanimously, but was not included in the final bill. However, the bill's report language was strengthened based on Senator Ayotte's efforts and makes it clear that Congress expects Secretary Panetta to meet his commitment to achieve a validated full statement of budget resources (SBR) by 2014. An SBR lists the funds the department received, the funds that were obligated, and what funds were ultimately spent.

Maritime Prepositioning

Senator Ayotte's amendment would require Pentagon officials to report to Congress before the Navy moves forward on a plan to reduce the operating status of the Maritime Ship Prepositioning squadron and the plan's impact on military readiness. Senator Ayotte believes it is important to fully understand the strategic risk associated with the Navy's plan before it moves forward in order to ensure the U.S. military maintains its readiness and can continue to respond quickly to contingencies.

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