WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) voted in favor of a bill that funds our nation’s military, including the largest pay raise for our servicemembers in a decade. Tillis called out Senate Democrats for voting down the funding bill, which also provides funding for vital domestic priorities like combatting the opioid crisis and medical research into cures for deadly diseases.
Senator Tillis has been a champion for North Carolina’s servicemembers, military families, and military installations. As the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, Tillis has spearheaded efforts to give servicemembers pay raises and improve housing conditions for military families. Tillis has also brought home more than $1 billion in funding for construction projects for North Carolina’s military installations.
Senator Tillis issued the following statement on today’s vote:
“Democrats just sent a clear message to North Carolinians that they are going to block military funding in order to score cheap political points and stop President Trump’s commonsense agenda to secure the border and keep America safe.”
The Funding That Senate Democrats Voted Against
The FY2020 Department of Defense funding bill includes $694.9 billion. The recommendation includes $622.5 billion in base funding, $70.7 billion for overseas contingency operations funding in title IX of the bill, and $1.7 billion for emergency designated funding supporting disaster recovery efforts. The legislation also supports a military pay increase of 3.1 percent, the largest in a decade. Further, the funding measure includes significant investments in both basic research and future technologies such as hypersonics, 5G, artificial intelligence, missile defense, and cybersecurity.
The FY2020 Energy and Water Development legislation provides $48.866 billion for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs, including national nuclear security and energy research and development, as well as important infrastructure projects administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.
The FY2020 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill includes $55 billion to strengthen diplomacy and development, promote democracy abroad, provide critical assistance to allies, and continue life-saving global health and humanitarian assistance programs for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
The FY2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill combines $178.3 billion in base allocation with $9.4 billion in changes in mandatory programs. This represents a one percent increase over the FY2019 enacted level – the same percentage increase the subcommittee received from FY2018 to FY2019. The measure continues investments in critical medical research, opioid abuse prevention and treatment, and education. In addition, the bill includes $492 million pursuant to the 21st Century Cures Act.
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