WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Blake Moore has praised his congressional colleagues for passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 on Dec. 11.
“This package supports the deployment of the National Guard to our Southern Border,“ according to Moore, “deters China, combats anti-Semitism, supports Israel, cuts inefficient programs and bureaucracy and cuts woke policies at the Department of Defense (DoD), including the use of TRICARE funds to pay for transgender surgeries for minors.”
The House voted to pass the record $883.7 billion legislation by a 281-to-140 margin, with a majority of Democrats voting against the bill.
The NDAA normally enjoys broad bipartisan support, but 124 Democrats voted against its passage in protest over the bill’s restriction on the Pentagon’s TRICARE health care insurance plans intended to cover the cost of gender dysphoria treatments for military dependents under the age of 18.
Despite that opposition, the Dec. 11 floor vote in the House clears the way for a Senate vote and enactment of the legislation, probably prior to Christmas.
Ignoring the dispute for the use of TRICARE funding, Moore found much to commend in the 2025 NDAA.
“This bill takes meaningful steps to support the mission of Hill Air Force Base (outside Ogden) and improved the lives of our military personnel while strengthening deterrence against adversaries like China, Russia and Iran,” he said.
In the plus column for HAFB, Moore said he led efforts in the House to provide construction improvements including $28 million for “an F-35/T-7A East Campus Infrastructure project” at Hill and $50 million for a future T-7A maintenance complex.
The F-35 is America’s first supersonic, stealth fighter jet with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
The T-7A – dubbed the Red Hawk – is an all-new advanced pilot training system with the flexibility to evolve as technologies, missions and training need change.
Moore was also pleased to announce that the NDAA rejected the Biden administration’s plans to retire certain aircraft critical to Utah’s leadership role in national security, including the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker.
He was also influential in directing the U.S. Air Force to transfer all supply chain management and maintenance responsibilities for the F-15EX, F-22, F-35 and T-7A landing gear systems to the Air Force Sustainment Center at HAFB.
“This provision will eliminate waste by ensuring that the U.S. Air Force has ultimate control over key landing gear upgrades rather than relying on outside private contractors,” Moore explains.
The NDAA also authorizes full funding for the Sentinel program — a multi-billion dollar ballistic missile program replacing the aging Minuteman system — at HAFB, bringing 4,000 new jobs to northern Utah.
Other beneficial provisions of the NDAA include critical housing upgrades; a 14.5 percent pay raise for junior enlisted personnel; shorter health care wait times; enhanced access to childcare; and job support for military spouses.
“I’m grateful that the provisions in the FY2025 NDAA will enhance the lives of our nation’s military members and their families while strengthening our national security,” Moore concluded.