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<home> -- <press releases> News from Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo Congresswoman Bordallo Attends White House Signing Ceremony on Defense Bill FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 28, 2009 – Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo today joined her colleagues from the House Armed Services Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees at the White House where President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10 NDAA) into law. The conference report on the FY10 NDAA was adopted by the House on October 9, 2009 and was transmitted to the President after passing the Senate on October 22, 2009. The FY10 NDAA authorizes spending and sets policy for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2010. The bill also provides the Department of Defense with $550.2 billion in budget authority while authorizing $130 billion to support defense operations overseas. Servicemembers will receive a 3.4% increase in their pay, a 0.5% increase over the President’s Budget. Moreover, the FY10 NDAA provides for significant military construction funding for Guam in support of the Guam International Agreement. Specifically, the bill authorizes $734,154,000 in military construction on Guam for the current fiscal year. The FY10 NDAA also includes a provision that prohibits any inpatient fee increases for TRICARE beneficiaries for fiscal year 2010. This provision was added in response to a recent Department of Defense announcement that inpatient co-pay would be increased by 20% for retirees on TRICARE standard. The bill also builds on the provisions from the previous defense authorization bill to ensure greater oversight and accountability of the military build-up on Guam. In particular, it designates the Deputy Secretary of Defense as the leader of the Department of Defense’s federal government interagency efforts. “This bill reaffirms the Congress’s and this Administration’s commitment to the military build-up on Guam,” Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. “It authorizes $734 million in military construction projects on Guam, which are critical projects to prepare for the realignment of Marines from Okinawa. This bill includes provisions to protect our local workforce by requiring contractors to ensure that reasonable efforts are taken to hire U.S. workers before foreign guest workers are certified. The FY10 NDAA also protects our military retirees by prohibiting any inpatient fee increases for TRICARE beneficiaries. I thank Chairman Ike Skelton, Congressman Solomon Ortiz, and Committee leadership for their work on this bill, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that the military build-up on Guam is done right and benefits our local community.” # # #
matthew.mateo@mail.house.gov or derek.mandell@mail.house.gov |
