Five Manning Amendments Included in Final Passage of Bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Kathy Manning (NC-06) joined her colleagues to pass the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (NDAA) with bipartisan support. This legislation makes key investments to improve the lives of servicemembers and military families, while also strengthening our national security.

Rep. Manning wrote five amendments to the bill, including one requiring the military to consider the benefits of using electric vehicles for students at military installations.

“The passage of this year’s defense funding bill is an important step to ensuring the security of our nation by supporting our servicemembers in uniform,” said Rep. Manning. “I am proud to have all five of my amendments included in this legislation. These amendments will accelerate our shift towards clean energy usage in the military, express our collective concern for the safety of Afghan women and girls, and provide critical support for the evacuations of Americans and Afghan partners from Afghanistan.”

Find a list of the five Manning amendments included in the National Defense Authorization Act below:

• Manning (NC) #377 – Adds the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the assessment of security global checkpoints.
• Manning (NC) #386 – Requires the Secretary of Defense notify Congress of any attempt to threaten or abduct a citizen or U.S. resident by a country supporting international terrorism.
• Manning (NC) #391 – Adds a Sense of Congress on the safety of women and girls in Afghanistan.
• Manning (NC) #411 – Includes a consideration of the benefits in terms of cost and emissions savings of the increased use of electric vehicles at military installations for transport to Department of Defense education activity facilities. 
• Manning (NC), Porter (CA) #426 – Requires the secretary of Defense within 60 days to consult with the Secretary of State and appoint an official to assist with the State Department on the continued evacuations of Americans and Afghan partners from Afghanistan.

This legislation includes a number of important priorities that Democrats fought for and secured, including:

• Vital benefits for servicemembers and their families, including a 2.7 percent pay increase, expanded parental leave, improved mental health care services and a new basic needs allowance for lower-income servicemembers.
• Combating sexual assault in the military by creating an Office of Special Victim Prosecutor to prosecute these crimes, removing the commanding officer from these decisions, and finally criminalizing sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
• Significant investments in emerging technologies to modernize institutions of national security, including a 36 percent increase in defense-wide research and development, as well as new funding to improve DOD research labs.
• Action on the climate crisis by removing barriers to improving the extreme weather resilience of critical defense infrastructure and requiring the DOD to consider climate risks in its strategic planning.
• Addressing strategic and security challenges, ranging from competition with China, to the risks posed by violent extremism and white nationalism, to strengthening our cybersecurity infrastructure, to strengthening the provisions providing for the needs of our Afghan partners with Special Immigrant Visas.
• Recruiting a stronger, fairer, more diverse Armed Services by promoting academic partnerships with minority-serving colleges and universities, rooting out extremism among servicemembers and establishing a $15 minimum wage for covered DOD service and construction contracts.

Watch Rep. Manning speaking in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act here.

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