Northwest Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on June 28.
Defense Appropriator Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger supported the $674.6 billion Fiscal Year 2019 Defense Appropriations Bill that passed the House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. The bill funds a 2.6 percent pay raise for troops, restores force readiness, promotes modernization and innovation and increases the end-strength of our Active Duty and Guard/Reserve forces by 16,400.
The bill provides $245.9B for critical training and maintenance to ensure our troops are able to fight today and $92.4B in research and development programs – like those at the Second District’s Aberdeen Proving Ground or the Army Research Lab – to prepare our Armed Forces for the fight of tomorrow. In addition to the largest pay raise for troops in nine years, it provides critical funding for research on traumatic brain injury, PTSD and spinal cord injury. It also funds sexual assault prevention and response efforts within the military.
Congressman Ruppersberger’s district is home to not only APG, but Fort Meade, several National Guard facilities and dozens of private-sector defense partners. He serves on the board of the U.S. Naval Academy and is co-chair of the bipartisan House Army Caucus. He emphasized that, without a new budget deal, our Armed Forces will again be subject to sequestration next year.
“In each of these roles, every time I meet with a leader of our Armed Forces, budget certainty has come up,” Congressman Ruppersberger said. “Our troops should trust that elected officials will support them and do their job to fund the government. Just as we trust them to accomplish the mission assigned to them.”
Congressman Ruppersberger successfully sponsored an amendment to block efforts to move jobs away from the Fort Meade-based Defense Information Systems Agency, which employs more than 4,000 government civilian workers, active duty military and contractors. DISA is located in what is now Anne Arundel County’s largest office complex.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Northwest Chamber of Commerce
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