Knox Times

WASHINGTON, D.C.,  – On July 14, U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett (TN-02) voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.  

“The United States is the greatest country in the world, and we have the greatest military in the world. Unfortunately, the Pentagon has recently decided to prioritize political agendas that don’t have anything to do with national defense while the rest of the world laughs at us. I’m glad to see this bill preventing taxpayer dollars from funding ridiculous things like race-baiting trainings, transgender surgeries, and cross-state abortions.” said Rep. Burchett. 

The FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $886.3 billion for the Department of Defense and includes provisions that would prohibit the Department of Defense from:  

• Paying for travel expenses to get an abortion 
• Paying for transgender surgeries and hormone treatments 
• Hiring additional diversity, equity, and inclusion administrators 
• Requiring employees to take race-based trainings to be promoted or retained 
• Appropriating funds for drag shows or critical race theory  

The FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act would also: 

• Ensure military fuel providers are not owned by the Chinese Communist Party and mitigate land purchases near military bases by Chinese Communist Party-backed entities 
• Establish an Inspector General for Ukraine to audit all U.S. aid 
• Include a 5.2% increase in basic pay, the largest pay raise in over 20 years 
• Cut $40 billion in inefficient programs, obsolete weapons, and unnecessary bureaucracy 
• Develop advanced radar system to track high-altitude balloons and missiles 

The NDAA included two of Rep. Burchett’s proposed amendments:

• UAP Declassification – Requires the Department of Defense to declassify any documents and records relating to publicly-known sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena that do not compromise the national security of the United States 
• R&D Contract Cost Sharing – Requires recipients of federal defense contracts for research and development to acquire 25% of program funding from non-federal sources 

The full text of the bill can be found here.

Original source can be found here.