Despite another federal shutdown looming and the GOP leadership in the U.S. House having problems advancing legislation and amendments, last week, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., turned to five Republicans in the Florida delegation to confer with the U.S. Senate on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
McCarthy named Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz, Carlos Gimenez, Laurel Lee, Mike Waltz and Dan Webster as conferees. Gaetz has been a leading McCarthy critic and the Panhandle congressman has continued to pummel the speaker in recent days. Earlier this month, Gaetz took to the House floor to take aim at McCarthy and last week reports emerged that a copy of a motion authored by Gaetz to remove McCarthy was found in a Capitol bathroom.
“The men and women who serve in uniform make sacrifices for our nation every day, and they deserve advocates in Congress who understand the importance of supporting our military. I’m proud to have such qualified leaders representing the House on the NDAA Conference Committee. This important committee is charged with ensuring our Department of Defense is focused on keeping America safe, cutting wasteful spending, combatting woke policies, and defending against our adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party,” McCarthy said.
Webster, who leads the U.S.House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, welcomed the assignment.
“Providing for the common defense is one of the fundamental congressional responsibilities, I am honored to be named as a conferee to the NDAA conference committee,” said Webster. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure critical House policies and reforms are kept as we work with our Senate counterparts to ensure our servicemembers have the resources and tools needed to remain the world’s finest fighting force,” said Webster.
Gimenez said he would use the post to help his goals of “preserving Homestead Air Reserve Base (HARB) for its original mission and prevent joint use, authorize $240 million to reduce out-of-pocket housing expenses in high-cost districts, support a 5.2 percent increase in pay to service members, and strengthen ties with Taiwan and other allies in the Indo-Pacific.”
“It is an honor and a privilege to be selected by Speaker Kevin McCarthy as a chief negotiator for this year’s National Defense Authorization Act,” said Gimenez. “As the only member from South Florida serving on the Armed Services Committee, I am proud to work for a NDAA that fully funds our military, supports our service members, and protects our community from the growing threats posed by Communist China, Communist Cuba, the regime in Iran, and Russia.”
Even as McCarthy suffered setbacks in trying to pass a rule to get the NDAA to the floor of the House, a vast majority of the House voted to start conferring with the Senate on it. U.S. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., weighed in on why she backed conferring with the Senate, even as she took shots at the GOP.
“After MAGA Republicans in the House politicized this year’s NDAA by adding extreme policy riders that hamper our national security and harm our service members and their families, I voted to move the must-pass defense bill to bipartisan conference with the Senate. We cannot allow extreme MAGA chaos to reign in Congress or in our armed services, yet Republicans in Congress are blocking the annual defense appropriations bill and GOP Senator Tuberville and Senate Republicans continue to block important military promotions. America now stands without Senate-confirmed leaders of its Navy, Army, and Marine Corps for the first time in U.S. history, and over 300 other top-level military positions remain unfilled due to Sen. Tuberville’s intransigence,” Castor said.
“I’m hopeful the NDAA conference will produce a bipartisan report that invests in our nation’s men and women in uniform and their families, promotes innovation and technology, supports our alliances and strengthens our military readiness,” she added“I will continue to push for important provisions I championed in the original FY24 NDAA that would have directly helped MacDill Air Force Base service members and families, including pay raises and improvements in on-base housing, health care and child care access.
“The Congress has enacted a bipartisan NDAA conference report for over 60 years. Numerous military authorities will expire if the NDAA is not enacted. I encourage my colleagues to put people over politics, work together in good faith and leave their culture wars at the door,” Castor concluded.
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