WASHINGTON, D.C.-- U.S. Representative Austin Scott (GA-08), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), released the below statement upon the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passing out of committee last night by a vote of 57-1. The NDAA sets Department of Defense (DoD) policies and authorizes funding levels for defense programs.

“Georgia’s bases are key to our national defense and are impactful across the globe,” Rep. Scott said. “The FY25 NDAA supports our warfighters at home and abroad and deters our adversaries. I am proud to have several amendments included that support our military as they defend the United States.”

“I thank Rep. Scott for his continued leadership on the House Armed Services Committee,” Chairman Mike Rogers (AL-03) said. “Rep. Scott works tirelessly to support the brave men and women serving at Robins Air Force Base and Moody Air Force Base, as well as the over 20,000 reservists and guardsmen across the state of Georgia.”

Rep. Scott had 20 amendments adopted during the HASC markup of the FY25 NDAA and another 15 were included in the base text of the bill. Some of the bill language provisions authored by Rep. Scott include:

Implementing Institutional Reforms Beneficial to the National Guard: Georgia is the sixth largest National Guard Force in the country and is currently partnered with the armed forces of Argentina and the country of Georgia as part of the State Partnership Program. Rep. Scott's amendment extending the performance period for the execution of activities pursuant to the Department of Defense State Partnership Program by one year is in the NDAA.

The NDAA also included another Rep. Scott amendment that would make the Chief of the National Guard Bureau eligible to be appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chief of the National Guard Bureau is the only member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff not eligible to be appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Supporting our Special Operations Forces and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Personnel: Special Operations Forces are often the first military force to arrive during a contingency and the last to leave. Rep Scott’s amendment increases the purchase thresholds for our special forces members performing duties in austere environments. This amendment authorizes our special forces to purchase equipment and perform their missions without limitation of declared contingency operation or location. Moreover, two EOD-related amendments were added to elevate the EOD’s community’s profile within the Department of the Army.

Honoring our Heroes and Veterans: The NDAA included Rep. Scott's amendment expressing the Sense of Congress and urging the Navy to name U.S. Navy warships after forty-two Navy Medal of Honor Recipients since World War I who have not had a ship named after them.

Rep. Scott also sponsored an amendment that would allow honorably separated Coast Guard personnel who are receiving care and medical treatment from either the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Public Health Service the same benefits as honorably separated service members from their sister services in the Department of Defense.

Strengthening our Organic Industrial Base: Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex is a key piece of the Air Force's three-depot strategy alongside the Navy's four public shipyards and the Army's ammunition activities and arsenals. A healthy and fully modernized organic industrial base is vital to deter war and defeat our enemies. Rep. Scott's amendment directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing to the House Committee on Armed Services on implications for multiyear O&M funding for weapons systems sustainment to include the potential costs, benefits, timeframes, and outcomes of allowing multiyear O&M funding and a discussion of how the DoD would maximize the use of funding in the year of appropriation.

The NDAA included an additional amendment from Rep. Scott regarding enhancing the readiness of our organic industrial base. The amendment directs the Secretary of Defense to brief HASC on the preparations needed to fully modernize the DoD's organic industrial base to meet the demands of simultaneous combat against peer competitors in multiple theaters.

Enhancing Counterdrug Cooperation against Transnational Criminal Organizations: According to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), transnational criminal organizations were able to operate where the DoD and law enforcement could not operate together. Rep. Scott sponsored an amendment to end this exploitation by increasing the area the DoD can operate with our law enforcement partners. The DoD can now respond more quickly to requests for assistance from law enforcement agencies responsible for counterdrug operations, and transnational criminal organizations will now be more quickly interdicted and apprehended.

Strengthening Our Supply Chain and Ending our Reliance on Communist China for Critical Technologies: Rep. Scott’s amendment requires that the DoD procure lithium-ion batteries produced in the United States or allied nations beginning in 2026. It also directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a brief on procuring hardware-based Encrypted Data Storage Devices.

Aluminum Extrusions in the National Defense Industrial Base: Aluminum extrusions are critical in the defense industrial base for munitions, aerospace, and space applications. HASC supports the existing DoD focus on castings and forgings and is aware that aluminum extrusions are an important supplemental technology option. Therefore, Rep. Scott sponsored an amendment that directs the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy to provide a briefing to the Congressional defense committees by March 1, 2025, on the importance of a robust domestic production capability for heavy press and hard alloy extrusions to the Defense Industrial Base.

Critical Precursor Chemicals Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: Importing critical active and inert precursor chemicals for energetic materials and munitions from adversarial nations presents a significant risk to U.S. national security. More than a third of critical precursor chemicals are sourced from Communist China, threatening the DoD's supply chains and readiness.

Rep. Scott's amendment directs the DoD to identify vulnerable active and inert precursor chemical supply chains for energetic materials and munitions, to communicate those gaps to the domestic biomanufacturing industrial base, and to provide a report to HASC by March 1, 2025.

###