House passes updated $768B defense budget, w/ new Wright-Patterson spending

The House of Representatives passed the $768 billion National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 late Tuesday, including spending for a new $24 million child development center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which is grappling with several significant pieces of legislation, including President Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill and a mid-December deadline to raise the federal debt limit, among other priorities.

Also included in the bill: $19 million for a new Army training center at Wright-Patterson, $4.7 million for a base-wide microgrid at Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport and a codification of the mission of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), located at Wright Patterson, to “perform research and to provide education to members of the Air Force and Space Force.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee, applauded passage of the bill.

“I have worked to secure many advancements in this year’s defense bill for our dedicated service members serving at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, including military construction funding for a new childcare center and Army Reserves readiness center as well as improvements to military family housing,” Turner said in a statement.

The House passed the bill 363 to 70.

The legislation also includes a 2.7% pay increase for service members, reforms how the military justice system prosecutes sexual assault and other serious crimes, and provides funding to modernize the nation’s nuclear triad and missile defense systems, Turner said.

The act also authorizes the divestiture of C-130 aircraft to facilitate the remission of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Air Wing, located at Mansfield-Lahm Airport, as a Cyber Wing.

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