Ohio Republicans lead defense bill to House passage

Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, Brad Wenstrup and Jim Renacci of Ohio supported House approval on Friday of a defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2018 that ramps up spending by 10 percent and emphasizes military readiness.

The Department of Defense (DoD) would receive $688.3 billion under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018, well above the president’s request, and would increase the size of the armed services to counter increased threats.

“The FY18 NDAA provides the necessary funding for our armed forces to combat the most complex and unpredictable threats in our history. Lack of funding has left our troops with significant capability and capacity challenges,” Turner, the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, said. “My colleagues and I have fought hard to make sure our men and women in uniform get the funding they need to rebuild our military after sequestration’s devastating cuts.”

Provisions authored by Turner were included in the NDAA to aid survivors of military sexual assault and to establish a two-year minimum confinement period for perpetrators of military sexual assault. Other provisions led by Turner include one to implement military residential window safety to prevent falls among young children, and another to review state child custody laws pertaining to service members and to look at how to standardize them.

Speaking in support of the bill, Wenstrup, the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, said the ”greatest fighting force in defense of freedom” has been weakened and diminished in recent decades.

“This has left our troops, and all of us, vulnerable while our adversaries have become more brazen and more emboldened,” Wenstrup said. “The fiscal year 2018 defense policy bill respects our troops and their mission: to provide for the defense of the United States. I served one year as a combat surgeon in Iraq. Having what you need and being trained to serve at top levels is so important to success from all aspects — medical, transportation, technical and lethal.”

The NDAA, said Renacci, would provide the DoD with much-needed funding increases to buy new and repair existing equipment and to provide the biggest pay raise for troops in years.

“I am proud to have supported the NDAA, which passed the House today with broad bipartisan support,” Renacci said. “Under the budget caps established during the Obama administration, our military had been dramatically underfunded, diminishing its readiness and deferring maintenance to the point that many of our planes can’t fly and ships and subs can’t sail without encountering problems.”