NDAA Passes House | Confronting Our Fiscal Crisis

.Dear Friend,

As the son of a veteran, I’m especially thankful for all of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces to keep our nation safe and secure and was proud to vote this week for the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025. The bill focuses resources to improve the quality of life for our servicemembers, their spouses, and their families, including authorization for a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers and a 4.5% pay raise for all other servicemembers.

The final FY25 NDAA builds on the wins House Republicans secured last year to strengthen our military, deter our adversaries, and end efforts to inject wokeness into the military. It takes important steps to address the security threats America faces from adversaries including China, Iran, and foreign terrorist organizations and revitalizes our defense industrial base. Critically, it refocuses our military on lethality, stopping the Biden-Harris admin’s efforts to force their far-Left agenda on our nation’s warfighters.

I look forward to the Senate finalizing passage of this bill that ensures our military has the resources and capabilities needed to deter our enemies and remain the most powerful force in the world.

Sincerely,

Member of Congress

.The U.S. national debt is currently soaring above $36 trillion and is continuously increasing. Driving this runaway debt are D.C.’s unsustainable and irresponsible spending and borrowing habits. During a Budget Committee hearing this week we discussed several avenues for reform, including working with the new Department of Government Efficiency to reform government spending and regulation, which is essential to finding our way out of our fiscal crisis. I also discussed my Executive Action Cost Transparency Act while also talking about emergency spending, which has surpassed more than $10 trillion in the last 30 years. You can watch my full remarks below.

Headline: Promoting Secure Borders NumbersUSA Award

.This week I was honored to receive the True Reformer Award from NumbersUSA for my A+ grade on NumbersUSA’s immigration grade card. Our open border is a threat to our nation and our citizens. I look forward to working with the next administration to secure our border and end illegal immigration.

Headline: Protecting Kansas’ Water Resources

.The House passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) this week, which included a provision to amend two water supply storage contracts between the State of Kansas and the United States that will save Kansas more than $41 million in interest savings. I was proud to vote for this legislation that ensures sufficient resources are available to meet our state’s critical water needs.

In the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, the City of El Dorado requested to modify its future-use contract with the Army Corps at El Dorado Lake. Retroactively changing the contract to use simple interest calculations rather than compound interest calculations significantly reduced the interest payment that will be due when their contract ends. The changes requested in this year’s WRDA to the Perry and Milford Lakes contracts will follow this same model to lower interest liability by switching to simple interest rather than compound interest. The Kansas Water Office calculates that making this switch would save the State more than $41 million in interest between the two contracts.

.Did you know that Derby, Kansas, was originally named El Paso? The town was named El Paso after a town in Illinois of the same name in 1871. Over time, mail for our Kansas town kept getting mixed up with El Paso, Texas. As a result, the railroad changed the name of the railroad depot to Derby. The name stuck with residents, and they officially changed the name of the town to Derby in 1956.