President Obama Signs FY16 Defense Bill into Law

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo today issued the following statement regarding President Obama’s signing of S. 1356, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

“This year’s NDAA gives our servicemembers the authorities and resources they need to carry out their missions around the world. Importantly for Guam, it continues the progress that we have made to provide resources for civilian infrastructure priorities and military construction relating to the Marine realignment from Okinawa to Guam. The bill provides significant investments in these priorities, including authorizing $126 million for upgrades to Guam’s civilian water and wastewater systems and $272 million for military construction directly related to the buildup. These are important milestones that for the realignment and it helps to fulfill the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that the buildup is good for Guam’s civilian population as well as the DoD.

“I do remain concerned that certain cuts will negatively impact our military readiness, especially the cuts to the Army and National Guard readiness accounts and the Sea Cadet Corps program. These cuts may have unintended consequences and I hope that we will be able to address these issues next year. However this is a good bill that advances our national security priorities, and I am pleased that President Obama has signed it into law.”

A list of provisions important to Guam is below:

• Lifts restrictions on $106.4 million for civilian infrastructure funding for water and wastewater projects and authorizes an additional $20 million for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements;
• Supports current law on military basic pay for fiscal year 2016, which authorizes a 2.3 percent increase;
• Reauthorizes for five years the National Guard State Partnership Program and included modified text of Congresswoman Bordallo’s bill, H.R. 1614, to strengthen the National Guard’s State Partnership Program by allowing DoD the authority to create a central account for the program and requiring the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to report to Congress on the feasibility of developing and maintaining a list of core competencies for the program;
• Requires the President to develop a Presidential Policy Directive to provide all relevant federal agencies with guidance on how to implement and fund the rebalance strategy, an effort led by Congresswoman Bordallo and others in Congress interested in supporting a broader approach to the Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy.  The provision will help to ensure adequate funding and resourcing to support the rebalance strategy in future Administrations;
• Expresses a need for continued progress on the consolidation of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa and support for continued progress on construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility in Henoko;
• Provides for greater accountability and oversight on the use of Government of Japan funds contributed for the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to Guam;
• Increases slots available at each of the U.S. Service Academies for student from Guam from three to four;
• Provides additional funding for an additional MQ-4 Triton Navy Unmanned Ariel Vehicle (UAV) and effort led by Congresswoman Bordallo to ensure that the Triton program stays on-budget and on track including initial operating capability on Guam in the coming years;
• Provides additional $14.75 million above President’s Budget for a total of about $75 million for the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI).