Tuberville: NDAA not perfect, still a strong victory for Alabama

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville said that while the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) could’ve been stronger and more conservative — including policies that would have decontaminated the Department of Defense from Biden Administration politics Tuberville fought long and hard against — he supports it. And says there’s always next year.

“I voted for this year’s defense bill for two reasons: because it’s good for Alabama and it’s good for our national security,” Tuberville (R-Auburn) said. “This bill could have been a lot stronger, but Chuck Schumer rigged the negotiation process to prevent conservatives from getting key wins on issues like taxpayer-funded abortion and DEI. We didn’t get everything we wanted this time, but we got a lot.”

“And my fellow conservatives in Alabama and across America can be sure that I’m determined to get the rest of it in next year’s bill.”

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Alabama’s senior member of the Senate was able to point to provisions of the 2024 military budget that his yes vote guaranteed:

• Substantial Military Pay Raise: The largest military pay increase in decades authorized a 5.2% raise for over 37,000 service members in Alabama.
• The FINISH IT Act: President Joe Biden’s plan to sell off border wall construction materials was brought to a halt, and panels laying dormant in government warehouses will be put to use to continue building a wall along the Southern Border.
• Boosting Domestic Mineral Sourcing: A provision authored by Tuberville requires the military to source more critical minerals from the United States—not China. Alabama produces a variety of critical materials, such as graphite and carbon fiber.
• Advancements in Unmanned Vehicles: Through his role on a Senate Armed Services subcommittee overseeing seapower readiness, Tuberville championed a provision to enhance the use of unmanned naval and ground vehicles, manufactured in Alabama, to reduce American casualties in conflicts.
• Multiyear Munitions Contracts: The NDAA authorized six new munitions for multiyear procurement contracts, including Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), MK-48 Torpedoes, Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM), Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM), and Small Diameter Bomb IIs (SDB-II).
• Nuclear and Missile Defense Initiatives: The bill initiates a sea-launched nuclear cruise missile program, pursues a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, and allocates $200 million for Israeli missile defense and anti-tunnel operations against Hamas.
• Support for Taiwan: The NDAA accelerates Harpoon missile deliveries to Taiwan and authorizes training for its military, underscoring the U.S.’s commitment to the island’s defense.
• Eliminating Bureaucratic and Taxpayer Waste: The Senate-passed NDAA will hire an Inspector General for Ukraine aid to create accountability for U.S. foreign aid, enshrines the MERIT Act, making it easier to fire bureaucrats who aren’t doing their jobs, freezes DEI hiring until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) delivers a report to Congress on the cost of the DEI workforce, and caps the max annual pay for employees whose primary jobs are working on DEI initiatives at $70,000 annually.

Alongside key policy and funding components to the bill that Tuberville said earned his vote, it also features a sizable investment into military facilities across the Alabama, totaling over $300 million for construction and renovation projects alone.

Sen. Tuberville’s role in shaping the 2024 NDAA is due in part to his strategic positions on key Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) subcommittees. As a member of the Subcommittees on Strategic Forces; Readiness and Management Support; and Seapower, his assignments impact a wide range of defense matters and oversee the budgets that make them possible.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.