Congressman Blake Moore’s Statement on Final House Passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023
WASHINGTON – Congressman Blake Moore issued the following statement following final House passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):
“Today, I was thrilled to vote for the National Defense Authorization Act. This bipartisan legislation is the culmination of the hard work of my team, colleagues, and the Armed Services Committee as we continue the 62-year-long tradition of overcoming partisan divides to put forth a bill that supports military members, their families, and the warfighter. My team and I successfully pushed for provisions in this package that support Hill Air Force Base and Utah’s defense community, including depot modernization, Utah Test and Training Range improvements, better housing for airmen, full funding for the Sentinel program, and more.
One significant win my GOP colleagues and I successfully fought for over 18 months is a permanent repeal of the DoD’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. After more than two years of our servicemembers being subjected to inconsistent vaccine mandates, we are grateful to right this wrong and restore hardworking servicemembers to their posts and livelihoods. This is a model example of why elections matter—Republicans winning back the majority gave us leverage to make critical reforms like this possible.
Republicans were also successful in defeating Democrat attempts to make climate change a top priority for the military and prevent the National Guard from continuing deployments to the southern border to help our immigration crisis. This bill also includes significant resources toward targeted deterrence against peer adversaries, increases President Biden’s inadequate defense budget, and provides a pay raise to our servicemembers, among many other provisions.
The NDAA supports our servicemembers across the world and military communities from coast to coast. It is imperative that America’s defense prowess is maintained across the world, and this is a strong step forward in ensuring our continued dominance on the global stage.”
###