The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with nearly three dozen amendments that were led by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing).
The package – which sets funding levels for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Armed Forces for the next fiscal year – included 34 of Slotkin’s provisions to address PFAS exposure, strengthen defense supply chains for critical minerals, and enhance U.S. competitiveness with the Chinese government. It also included Slotkin’s legislation restricting Russia’s access to its gold reserves to help choke off funding for the war in Ukraine.
“As a former Pentagon and national security professional, I take the responsibility of passing the NDAA very seriously,” said Slotkin. “Congress has a solemn obligation to pass a budget that ensures our military has the resources it needs to guarantee America’s safety and security, and project strength in an increasingly uncertain world. We also have a fundamental responsibility to invest in our men and women in uniform, and this year’s NDAA provides service members with a well-earned pay raise, increased housing allowance, and expanded childcare benefits.
“When it comes to looking after our men and women in uniform, my provisions address issues like PFAS exposure by offering new equipment alternatives, retaining pilots at installations like Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and pushing the Pentagon to report to Congress as they finally wind down the use of toxic burn pits. On the issue of supply chains, my amendments will restock our supplies of critical minerals and reduce our dependence on rivals like the Chinese government, bringing manufacturing for defense equipment and jobs back to places like Michigan.”
Additionally, as the Chinese government takes more aggressive steps in the western Pacific, the NDAA allocates significant resources to enable Taiwan to purchase U.S. military equipment, while also investing in a range of critical munitions and capabilities to maintain America’s competitive edge.
A former CIA intelligence analyst and a top official at the Department of Defense, Slotkin served three tours in Iraq alongside the military and has been a member of the House Armed Services Committee since arriving in Congress. In the spring of 2021, she led a bipartisan task force to examine vulnerabilities in our national security supply chains and made subsequent amendments to the NDAA to begin addressing them.
Slotkin’s provisions adopted as part of the NDAA (among others) include:
• PFAS exposure: Directing DoD to offer service members alternative gear that is not laden with forever chemicals.
• New manufacturing in Michigan: Allocating $10 million to develop Michigan-based production of aircraft engines for small unmanned aerial systems.
• Bolstering the National Defense Stockpile: Requiring the National Defense Stockpile to gather enough rare earth elements and critical minerals to sustain three years of major conflict and correcting stockpile shortages.
• Ensuring Supply Chain Transparency for Rare Earth Elements: Requiring contractors who supply magnets containing rare earth elements for use in DoD weapon systems to disclose their sources of supply.
• Restrictions on Russia’s gold reserves: Closing a loophole in current sanctions against the Russian Central Bank to prevent Moscow from using its gold reserves to fund the war against Ukraine.
• Strategic materials study: Establishing a DoD program to identify and acquire the highest priority materials, minerals, or equipment, including semiconductors, to sustain the United States in a high-end conflict with a strategic competitor for at least one year.
