An annual military spending bill that will bring billions to New Mexico passed Congress last week and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday.
The National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $895 billion in spending, including $33.5 billion for nuclear weapons programs in the Energy Department. It authorizes annual budgets for institutions in New Mexico like the nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad and approved a military pay raise. New Mexico has 14,301 active-duty service members, as well as 7,551 National Guard and reserve members.
“This NDAA includes much-needed pay raises for our men and women in uniform, advances environmental cleanup efforts, and funding to boost research and development capabilities at our National Laboratories,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said in a statement.
Thanks to the legislation, junior enlisted service members will get a 14.5% pay increase, while the rest of the military gets a 4.5% pay raise. Last year’s NDAA included a 5.2% pay raise for all military service members, as well as Department of Defense civil service workers.
The newly signed bill includes a controversial provision that prevents parents with Tricare, the military health program, from using it for gender-affirming care for their children under 18 — a measure that caused New Mexico’s Democratic congresswomen, Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury, to vote against it.
“Sadly, children are more likely to attempt and commit suicide when they are bullied, and this bill amounts to bullying at a national scale,” Leger Fernández said during a speech on the House floor. “I am not going to interfere with a patriotic parent serving in the military and the care they want to give to their children.”
Where defense dollars are headed in New Mexico
The spending bill authorizes $25 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration overall, with $1.5 billion for Los Alamos National Lab’s research and development programs.
The NDAA authorizes $425.4 million for the annual Waste Isolation Pilot Plant budget. WIPP, near Carlsbad, is the only place where the U.S. disposes of transuranic nuclear waste, which includes things like clothing or tools contaminated with plutonium.
The bill also has $277 million for environmental cleanup at Sandia and Los Alamos National laboratories.
The NDAA authorizes millions for new buildings and a helicopter simulator in New Mexico. There’s $50 million to Sandia National Laboratories for facility upgrades at the Power Sources Technology Group; the Los Alamos funding includes $48.5 million for a plutonium safety and quality building; White Sands Missile Range will get $29 million to build a new missile assembly support building; and $15.5 million for Kirtland Air Force Base to get a combat rescue helicopter simulator.
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