Sherrill Statement on House Passage of FY2025 NDAA

Today, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), former Navy Helicopter Aircraft Commander and member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted to pass the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):

“This year’s NDAA supports our military readiness, our service members, and protects our national defense. It raises wages for young service members, some of whom had reportedly been using food stamps to make ends meet; ends copays and increases prescription length for contraception; invests in cyber security to defeat and deter cyber attacks from adversaries like China and Russia; and invests in counter-drone technologies and strategies, which we have seen is incredibly important given the recent drone sightings in New Jersey. Abroad, there are active conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. We face growing threats from China, and we have American service members stationed across the world. 

“However, I am disgusted that after the election Republicans immediately pursued their extreme culture war agenda in the NDAA. Trump has already vowed to sign an executive order on ‘Day One’ banning federal agencies from promoting trans care. Speaker Johnson chose to accelerate that timeline by adding an amendment that singled out a small handful of innocent children to be used as political pawns. This amendment flies in the face of a bipartisan NDAA which was supposed to focus on quality of life for service members and their families. I served for almost ten years and I have seen firsthand how difficult it can be to care for a family through a cycle of constant deployments.

“Governing requires making tough choices with the options in front of you. Had this bill failed, extremist House Republicans would simply have bided their time, coming back in January with a Trump-led government trifecta to use the NDAA to enact the whole slate of their dangerous agenda. This is only the first salvo in a fight to which I am extremely committed.” 

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