Last week, our House Armed Services Committee passed our annual legislative package to authorize funding for every aspect of our military. This year’s bill is truly transformational: it modernizes and streamlines our entire military, making our nation’s heroes more lethal and making our country more secure.
We also enacted a rescissions package to recover billions of taxpayer dollars, I worked with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to secure additional disaster funding for our state, and I hosted another full slate of Kansas visitors.
After working closely with the Trump Administration for months, our committee advanced a FY ’26 NDAA that will make our military more lethal, improve our servicemembers’ quality of life, and ensure the DoD is always ready to respond to any threat.
This bill contains huge wins for our servicemembers and their families, including a 3.8% pay increase for military personnel, extension of in-home child care programs for military families, and expansion of TRICARE dental insurance to reservists.
Protection against downsizing of Department of Defense (DoD) medical facilities in Kansas and across the country, including Irwin Army Community Hospital at Fort Riley;
Establishment of a pilot program to evaluate the efficacy of experimental burn and blast treatments for wounded personnel;
Prohibition of bans on fossil fuels and plastic bags at DoD facilities to ensure optimal services are available;
Increased restroom facility access for DoD-contracted truck and transportation drivers;
Encouragement to identify and develop expanded training and maneuver space for Army drone programs, and;
Formation of a new DoD program to streamline the application process for small businesses interested in contracting with the U.S. Military.
There were also multiple provisions in the bill I strongly support and cosponsored, including:
Institution of a 3.8% pay raise for all military personnel;
Preventing deactivation of Army Reserve helicopter units, including the Aviation Support Facility at New Century;
Prevention of the cancellation of the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail aircraft acquisition, protecting Kansas jobs;
Streamlined credentialing of military healthcare professionals;
Increased access to school-transition information for military families prior to relocation, and;
Improved retention of quality Army and Air Force National Guard officers by eliminating a penalty for breaks in service.
Enhancing global peace through strength is one of my top priorities in Congress, and this bill takes a significant step toward achieving that goal. I’m proud our Committee was able to work together on this critical legislation and advance it by a very bipartisan vote of 55-2. I look forward to voting for it on the House Floor later this year!
Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced additional resources available to Kansans as we continue to recover and rebuild from this storm system. These resources include a temporary pause of foreclosures on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, the availability of FHA mortgage insurance to Kansans whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed, and HUD financing for both mortgages and home rehabilitation.
I’m grateful for the Trump Administration’s continued assistance; the federal disaster relief Kansas received following March’s storms was critical. I will continue to work to ensure Kansans have the resources needed to rebuild and recover . If you’re a Kansan in the Second District who was affected by March’s storms and need help with HUD – or any other federal agency – please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.
Recovering Taxpayer Dollars
Last week, I voted to claw back more than $9 billion in taxpayer funds. After the House initially passed this recessions package last month, the Senate made slight adjustments, requiring us to pass the amended legislation before it could be enacted.
Here are just a few examples of funding we recovered:
$1 million for voter ID in Haiti;
$3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street;
$6 million for “Net Zero Cities” in Mexico;
$500,000 for electric busses in Rwanda, and;
$8,000 for promoting vegan food in Zambia.
The vast majority of these taxpayer dollars we recovered were earmarked to be spent on ridiculous items like these, which provide zero benefit to Kansans. We also recouped public broadcasting money, which simply cannot be a spending priority under our current financial circumstances.
Our nation is more than $37 trillion in debt. Stopping unnecessary spending identified by the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a critical first step in solving our nation’s debt crisis and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. If Congress fails to codify the DOGE cuts, they can be easily put back by a future administration who doesn’t share our commitment to fiscal responsibility.
Weekly Visitors
Thank you to Kansans with the Tomorrow’s Agribusiness Leaders Program, the American Veterinary Medical Association, National Council of Farmers Cooperatives, Kansas Grain Sorghum, the Kansas Motor Carriers Association, Kansas Soybean Association, Kansas Farm Bureau President Joe Newland, and Kansas Corn for visiting me in Washington!
I’m back in Washington this week, where we’ll vote on measures to undo more of the Biden Administration’s overregulation and pass additional border security legislation. Sunday marked six months of President Trump’s second term in office. The first six months have been a resounding success; however, Congress must keep our foot on the pedal and continue to enact the President’s executive orders if we expect to see lasting change.
