In another example of his strong support for our military, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) today voted in favor of H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, legislation that would provide valuable funding for the armed forces while proposing significant savings that do not compromise the needs of our nation’s warfighters. The bill passed 299-120.

The legislation provides the pay, funding and authorities for America’s men and women in uniform, and authorizes a total of $643 billion, nearly $4 billon more for the Pentagon than what the Obama administration requested. The bill also would ease the strain on the heavily stressed military by slowing the pace of the Obama administration’s end-strength reductions and provides troops with a 1.7% pay raise.  The NDAA also restates the firmly held sense of Congress that this nation must honor its commitment to generations of service-members, families and survivors who have spent decades sacrificing their personal interests in service to their country. That is why this legislation rejects the dramatic out-of-pocket fee increases sought by the Obama Administration from beneficiaries of TRICARE, the health care system that serves millions of military personnel, military retirees, and their families. 

“I believe that our fighting men and women in uniform must have the resources they need to defend our nation while they carry out their missions and come home safely, and this bill secures that ability,” Luetkemeyer said. “This legislation also provides for our troops who have sacrificed so much to defend our freedom, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.”

This FY 2013 NDAA also includes the Right to Habeas Corpus Act, which reaffirms that the detainee provisions of the FY 2012 NDAA and 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) do not allow for the indefinite detention of citizens and makes explicit that nothing shall be construed to deny the availability of the writ of habeas corpus.  This year’s NDAA also prohibits the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States and prohibits the use of funds to house Guantanamo terrorist detainees in the United States.

Luetkemeyer’s support for the NDAA comes a week after he supported the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012, legislation that cut spending elsewhere in the budget in order to prevent an across the board cut to the military scheduled for January 2013 that would leave the  military at its smallest size since before the Second World War – all while we are still a nation at war in Afghanistan, facing increased threats from Iran and North Korea, unrest in the Middle East and a rising China.

“We must be responsible when it comes to federal spending by reducing the debt while at the same time maintaining the ability of our men and women in uniform to defend us, and I believe we have done that,” Luetkemeyer said. “We are now able to enhance our national security while at the same time taking steps to institute the kind of fiscal reforms we need to reduce our debt.”