Rep. Sara Jacobs Brings Home Big Wins for San Diego’s Military Community in Annual Defense Bill
Rep. Sara Jacobs voted to pass the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after securing more than a dozen big wins for San Diego, including expanding access to housing and child care, strengthening food security, and aligning defense policies with foreign policy goals.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Our service members and their families sacrifice so much for us – and in return for all that they’ve given up, they’ve earned and deserve to live with dignity. But I’ve heard from too many service members in San Diego who live in their cars because they can’t afford housing, or go to the food bank because they can’t put food on the table, or can’t find child care. This is wrong – and it’s hurting our ability to recruit and retain a sufficient military force. That’s why I’m so proud that I fought and won big changes for San Diego’s military community. I passed my Military Housing Readiness Council Act to help guarantee safe, high-quality privatized housing and another provision to expand housing access for junior-enlisted service members. I also passed a version of my Military Food Security Act to help service members and their families put food on the table.
“I also fought against and successfully removed harmful provisions to restrict abortion access and target LGBTQ+ service members in the final version of the NDAA. We must ensure that our military is inclusive and welcoming of anyone who’s willing and able to serve – both to live up to our values and to address our recruitment challenges.
“While I’m very proud of the more than a dozen wins for San Diego, I’m deeply concerned that another year has passed without a reckoning of our ballooning defense budget. Adding another zero at the end of our defense budget doesn’t automatically make us safer if we’re failing to meet and adapt to the changes and challenges of 21st-century warfare. We have more work ahead of us to ensure our budget is strategic, thoughtful, and rational. Unfortunately, this year’s NDAA includes an extension of FISA’s Section 702 program. I will be putting all my efforts next spring into passing my bipartisan legislation to drastically reform Section 702 so that our intelligence agencies have the necessary tools to keep our country safe while protecting Americans’ constitutional right to privacy.”
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs secured the following provisions:
Supporting Housing That’s Safe and Affordable for Service Members and Military Families:
- Expanding Housing Access for Junior Enlisted Service Members by giving commanding officers the authority to grant off-base housing to junior enlisted service members living on a naval vessel during shipyard unavailability or maintenance period
- Conducting Oversight and Accountability to Ensure Safe Military Housing, through Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Military Housing Readiness Council Act, which would create a working group to monitor privatized military housing to ensure all military families have access to safe, quality housing
Ending Food Insecurity in the Military:
- Improving Food Security for Service Members and Military Families in line with Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Military Food Security Act, which would exclude service members’ housing allowance from determining eligibility for the Basic Needs Allowance (BNA) in certain circumstances
Expanding Fertility Options for Service Members:
- Establishing a Feasibility Study on Cryopreservation and Storage Pilot Program that would reimburse active duty service members for the cost of freezing, shipping, and storing their gametes
Addressing the Military Child Care Crisis:
- Increasing DoD’s Required Share of Child Care Spending to better reflect the true cost of care
- Increasing Transparency and Accuracy of Child Care Wait Lists by requiring wait lists to be published on the Defense Department’s website along with estimated wait times and requiring the Defense Department to conduct a feasibility report on improving communication with members on wait lists
Improving Mental Health Care in the Military:
- Increasing Transparency on Mental Health Services at DODEA Schools by surveying the quality and availability of school psychologists
Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion in the Military:
- Pushing for Inclusivity of the Neurodivergent Community by directing DoD to brief Congress about how current personnel policies related to neurodivergent service members, including those with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism, impact total force readiness
Creating Guardrails Around the Defense Department’s Use of Artificial Intelligence:
- Strengthening Oversight for the Safe and Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence by requiring a process to operationalize ethical AI principles across the Department of Defense, including correcting or retiring AI deemed not responsible
Aligning Defense Policy with Foreign Policy Goals:
- Ensuring Thoughtful Implementation of the Global Fragility Act to create a whole-of-government approach to addressing conflict in Mozambique, Libya, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, and Coastal West Africa by directing the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing on the resources, authorities, and staffing necessary for the Defense Department to implement and prioritize the Global Fragility Act
- Strengthening End-Use Monitoring to Uphold Values by requiring a GAO review of the State Department’s and Defense Department’s efforts to ensure recipient countries are not misusing U.S. defense articles and weapons, including whether they are being used in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law
- Ensuring Transparency on Former Service Members’ Work for Foreign Governments by requiring a GAO review on the effectiveness of the State Department’s and Defense Department’s processes that govern the employment by foreign governments of former officers of the Armed Forces
- Applying Lessons Learned from Ukraine on the Use of U.S.-provided Weapons through new reports that assess lessons learned on end-use monitoring from Ukraine to apply to other conflict-affected environments.
- Preventing Civilian Harm and Ensuring Implementation of the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan by directing a GAO review on the effectiveness of civilian harm mitigation training for U.S. military personnel
- Restoring and Strengthening America’s leadership in international organizations through Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Restoring U.S. Leadership in International Organizations Act, which would boost U.S. diplomatic presence at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and incentivize American diplomats to serve in international organizations
- Increasing Oversight of Civilian Casualties in Conflict through Rep. Sara Jacobs’ Civilian Harm Transparency in Partnerships Act of 2023, which would require the Director of National Intelligence to notify Congress if US-provided intelligence used by a third party results in civilian casualties.
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