Murkowski Supports Alaska Guardsmen and Alaska Service Members in National Defense Authorization Act
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted in favor of S.4638 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (NDAA FY25), which passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 85-14. This year’s NDAA authorizes $923.3 billion for national defense, with $878.4 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD) and $33.4 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy (DOE). Significantly, it provides a 14.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5 percent pay raise for all other service members.
The legislation incorporates a number of Alaska-specific wins that Murkowski and the Alaska delegation fought to include. Chief among them was the increase of 649 new Active Guard Reserve Authorizations (AGR) for the National Guard Bureau (NGB). This has been a top priority for the Alaska delegation since the NGB implemented an initiative that would have impacted or eliminated nearly 80 AGR positions from the Alaska Air National Guard (ANG) earlier this year. The legislation also included an amendment, led by Senator Murkowski, Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) that places guardrails against any future leveling initiatives.
“The passage of this year’s NDAA will bring a greater sense of security to our Alaska Guardsmen whose jobs were put at risk by the Air National Guard,” said Senator Murkowski. “No longer will they have to worry that their careers or their mission is under threat from backroom political maneuvering now that the delegation has secured in statute protection from bureaucratic leveling. Back in February, I told Alaska’s Guardsman that I would not rest until their jobs were safe, and I am proud to have kept that promise.”
“The NDAA this year secured a number of notable provisions for Alaska’s service members and our national defense mission,” Murkowski continued. “On top of a well-deserved 4.5% pay raise, our men and women in uniform will secure a number of vital resources to help them as they serve our country. This includes a raise in Basic Needs Allowance, more mental health support, and greater accessibility to affordable childcare. This legislation further aids our mission abroad by expanding our critical defense initiatives, while at the same time increases investments to protect our borders at home. I’m grateful to my colleague Dan Sullivan for his hard work on this bill at the committee level and am proud to support this legislation for Alaska.”
NDAA FY25 Highlights
Alaska Military Construction Investment
As our adversaries step up their military presence in hotspots around the world, including the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Arctic, it’s important the United States matches that investment in Alaska as the critical location by which we project power into all of these regions. Senator Murkowski secured a funding authorization to begin construction of the Joint Integrated Test and Training Center (JITTC) which will facilitate mission planning, simulations, briefing, and debriefing at the highest tactical and operational level. This state-of-the-art facility, in concert with our other great training assets like the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex and the Donnelly Training Area, continues to cement Alaska’s place as the host of some of the greatest military training ranges in the world.
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) received funding authorizations to begin the construction of a National Guard Readiness Center to improve the Alaska Army National Guard’s training and drilling opportunities, a Fuels Facility to bring ground refueling capabilities up to the level of the air assets and missions assigned to the units at the base, a Conventional Munitions Complex to replace condemned facilities where munitions are housed and assembled, and to improve existing military housing units. Fort Wainwright received a funding authorization for an Automated Multipurpose Machine Gun Range to provide adequate facilities to train soldiers’ marksmanship skills, and Eielson Air Force Base received a funding authorization for a Fuel Operations and Lab Facility to ensure their ability to provide acceptable fuel for aircraft and serve as an air bridge to the Pacific and Arctic.
In all, the FY25 NDAA contains authorizations for more than $420 million in military construction projects in Alaska that Murkowski secured funding for through the Senate Appropriations Committee-passed version of the FY25 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriation bill. Addressing the $180 billion repair and maintenance backlog is a priority of the Senator, and the legislation will require the DoD to invest a certain percentage of military construction funding in facility sustainment, restoration, and maintenance programs. Devoting more of the DoD’s budget to taking care of facilities that it already has will benefit the assets that our military maintains in the Arctic and near-Arctic where the harsh climate degrades equipment faster than most other environments.
Supporting Alaska’s Military Service members
Our nation has a responsibility to provide for our military members as they serve our country. That responsibility is felt even more acutely to support our members in Alaska. On top of the 4.5% pay raise that all enlisted members received, junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) will receive a 14.5% pay raise. The Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) will be raised to 200% of federal poverty guidelines, as well as a provision was included to enhance recruitment and employment of additional mental health providers.
Childcare remains one of Alaska’s most pressing challenges and it has affected our military members and their families as well. The NDAA will fully fund childcare fee assistance programs, eliminating fee assistance wait lists for eligible families. The legislation will also ensure pay for staff at DoD childcare centers is competitive with private industry and implement additional benefits for providers. It will also expand eligibility for unemployed military spouses who require childcare assistance as they seek employment.
Defending our border
National defense begins by protecting our borders. The NDAA will allow for the deployment of National Guard troops to assist Border Patrol at the southwest border and authorizes $90 million for construction of a new Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South (JIATF-S) Command and Control Facility. Additionally, the legislation increases funding by $10 million for DoD forces to push back against narcotics traffickers.
Strong National Defense
With a rapidly shifting geopolitical theater, it is vital that the United States remains on the front foot with a strong national defense. This legislation supports robust investment in our defense initiatives. Citizens of China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran will be banned from accessing U.S. nuclear weapons or naval nuclear propulsion facilities. The DoD will be banned from contracting with companies that hire lobbyists for Chinese military enterprises. Additionally, DoD will be authorized with $300 million in security assistance funds to support Taiwan’s defense reform and civil resilience efforts.
The FY25 NDAA further authorizes $47.5 million for continued U.S.-Israel collaborative research on emerging technologies and $30 million for U.S.-Israel anti-tunneling programs. The legislation further enhances the DoD’s ability to protect former officials whom Iran is targeting for assassination.
Also included in the legislation is the establishment of the Taiwan Deterrence Initiative, which provides Taiwan with legal assistance to maintain self-defense capabilities as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific. The legislation further resources both the European Deterrence and the Pacific Deterrence initiatives, and improves the DoD’s ability to execute security cooperation by extending the availability of funds for security cooperation programs over the next three years.
Responsible Spending
It is vital that we support our defense mission at home and abroad. But we need to be sure that we are strategic in that support. Senator Murkowski supports the initiative in the NDAA that will require all DoD components to undertake an annual independent audit. Any component that fails to undergo an audit would have 1.5% of their unobligated amounts available cancelled and returned to the general fund of the Treasury.
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