Rep. Carbajal Passes Key Environmental, Immigration, and Education Provisions In Defense Spending BillAmends Legislation to Include Cal Poly Funding and Climate Change Research
Washington, DC,
July 14, 2017
Congressman Salud Carbajal (CA-24), member of the House Armed Services Committee, successfully included multiple amendments to the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives today. “As a Marine Corps veteran, I am honored to serve on the House Armed Services Committee and support our service members protecting our national security interests, while balancing our domestic priorities,” said Carbajal. “I’m pleased that this year’s defense spending package will include important investments that reflect our Central Coast values.” Rep. Carbajal successfully included the following Amendments: Educational Partnership Agreements Carbajal secured $5 million in funding for the Defense Department Educational Partnership Agreement at Cal Poly. This funding supplements two programs on Cal Poly’s campus – the High-Performance Computing Lab and the Electrical and Micro Propulsion Lab. This amendment encourages DoD-academia research partnerships on the Central Coast that will ultimately help sustain the United States’ technological edge. Climate Change Carbajal co-sponsored an amendment that directs the Defense Department to research the impacts of climate change to our military operations and propose strategies to combat its effects. As a military that has committed to and invested in maintaining global presence this legislation helps ensure we are prepared to protect our personnel and assets from the impacts of climate change. Naturalization Carbajal led a bipartisan effort to successfully include language that ensures service members who have permanent resident status are aware of the opportunity for expedited naturalization. With intensified military operations in recent years, many service members were not made aware of their expedited naturalization opportunities. This amendment now requires that the military provide this information to our eligible service members and veterans. National Guard Youth Challenge Program Carbajal included language expressing the importance of the Youth Challenge Program such as the Grizzly Youth Academy at Camp Roberts, while continuing to require a report to ensure effective oversight and accountability of the program. The Grizzly Youth Academy is one of the most effective youth development program for high school-age students on the Central Coast that have dropped out or are at-risk of dropping out of school. Female Body Armor Carbajal supported language urging the Marine Corps to develop body armor that meets the specific needs of female service members. It is an ongoing concern that the Marine Corps is just developing more sizes rather than developing female-specific body armor. Biofuel Carbajal successfully led a bipartisan effort to defeat an amendment that would restrict the DoD from utilizing renewable energy sources such as biofuel. The Department of Defense is the single largest energy consumer in the world. Carbajal successfully protected the diversification of liquid fuels as an option to bring down cost and reduce regulatory burden. Infrastructure Carbajal secured language in the bill that would direct DoD to look at ways to reinvest, operate and sustain its utility systems in order maintain a modern, efficient, and resilient utility infrastructure. A full summary of the FY18 NDAA can be found here. ### |
