July 14, 2023

Washington Update

After a 2-week district period, I was back in Washington this week to tackle some important topics related to funding our government and supporting our military.

The National Defense Authorization Act, or the NDAA as we call it, is at the heart of one of our most fundamental duties in Congress, which is to “provide for the common defense.” Historically bipartisan, the NDAA has been signed into law each year for decades. This year’s NDAA looks a bit different and will require some work in a conference committee to become law.

The purpose of the NDAA is to authorize funding and set policies to ensure we have a ready and lethal force. After a week of debate, and a murky outlook at the beginning of the week, we got it passed out of the House mainly along party lines. I was proud to support the measure.

Let me be clear. Partisan politics should never get in the way of America’s national defense priorities. I am ready to work with all of my colleagues to ensure this important bill can pass both Houses of Congress and be signed into law by the President.

This year’s NDAA includes a much-needed 5.2% pay raise for our servicemembers, vital provisions that will help deter our pacing adversaries, supports Taiwanese defense, authorizes funding for construction for Fort Smith’s FMS mission, and bolsters our munitions and energetics supply chain.

We must remember the NDAA is only a warm-up act – our focus needs to quickly turn to passing full appropriations for the Department of Defense and the whole government, which is something I worked on directly this week.

As you know, I chair the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the House Appropriations Committee. I led the full committee markup of our bill this week.

I’m proud of what this bill does – it right-sizes the federal agencies under our jurisdiction, while not impacting their ability to effectively operate for the American people.

The Biden Administration’s pursuit of a job-killing, burdensome, and unnecessary regulatory agenda only serves to further bloat a federal bureaucracy even more that has become too big, too intrusive, and counter-intuitive to limited government.

It is our Article I responsibility to ensure our federal agencies are consistent with the intent of Congress in the most cost-effective manner possible. This bill accomplishes that.

The FSGG bill was the 8th bill to pass out of the Appropriations Committee. To fully fund our government, we need to pass all 12 bills by October 1st. So, you can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

What drove me to the Appropriations Committee back in my freshman year in Congress was the powerful impact it has on our nation. The “power of the purse” cannot be overstated, and the pressure to address the emerging needs of this country is intense. 

But this is our sworn duty in Congress, and the NDAA passage and FSGG markup are integral pieces of what our constituents sent us to Washington to do: make our government work for the American people.

Marlon Blackwell Architects of AR-3 to Design Global War on Terrorism Memorial on National Mall!

This week I received some exciting news. Out of over 175 firms around the world, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation selected Mr. Blackwell and his team at Marlon Blackwell Architects of Fayetteville, Arkansas to design the memorial! I have no doubt Mr. Blackwell will bring his tremendous experience and expertise, which we've been fortunate enough to see around the district, to our nation's capital when crafting this unifying memorial. The Global War on Terrorism Memorial will display the gratitude for veterans of America's longest war and honor those who will forever be part of the fabric that makes America strong.

Read more in the NW Arkansas Democrat-Gazette here!

Picture highlights from the week:

From the front...

Congressman Steve Womack
Arkansas Third District