Kilmer Statement on Passage of House Defense Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) released the following statement after he voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA). The legislation includes Kilmer-backed proposals to authorize an extension of overtime payments to civilian shipyard workers and to stop a policy that lowers compensation for federal employees and active-duty servicemembers who travel for work.
“Our vote in the House today was the first step in the process toward authorizing funding levels that allow the Department of Defense to properly support our servicemembers. It’s essential that Congress ensures we have the best trained and equipped fighting force in the world while honoring our commitment to the men and women who serve and their families. It’s just as important that as our budget process moves forward we take harmful, across-the-board spending cuts off the table not just for military spending, but for the rest of the budget as well. In our region, we saw how the sequester led to furloughs that hurt workers and families. Getting rid of sequestration is the best way to set our sights on long-term growth that creates opportunities for all. I will remain focused on fighting for the kind of bipartisan deal that is essential to our military and folks here at home.”
The NDAA sets funding levels, expenditures, and other authorizations for the Department of Defense. The final bill that passed the House also includes more than $50 million in funding for key local military installations like Naval Base Kitsap. These investments will help the military continue its national security mission and ensure military construction projects are in compliance with environmental and safety standards.
A measure to extend overtime payments to civilian shipyard workers for two years was added as part of the bill. Kilmer has led the push to continue the authorization of overtime payments for shipyard workers who conduct maintenance on the U.S. aircraft carrier stationed in Japan.
“This bill gives our shipyard workers some relief,” said Kilmer. “It’s only right that when we ask workers to leave their families for four to six months to help maintain our naval edge we compensate them fairly. That’s why we will continue to fight to get this two year extension across the finish line and keep going until we have a permanent fix. Government agencies should follow the facts and settle this matter so we don’t put workers in limbo year after year.”
When the overtime expired for these workers going overseas last September, Kilmer secured a one-year extension in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed into law by President Obama. Prior to passage of the NDAA Kilmer led a letter signed by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to the Defense Secretary and the Director of Office of Personnel Management calling on them to release a completed report justifying an extension of the payments.
An amendment was also successfully added to the final bill to eliminate a policy enacted by the Department of Defense that passes the burden of finding affordable lodging while on assignment onto the individual employee rather than the department or service. In March, Kilmer introduced a bipartisan bill to reverse this policy.
“The Pentagon should not put the biggest burden of spending cuts on the backs of workers,” said Kilmer. “We need to ensure that workers and servicemembers can find decent lodging while traveling to support military missions. This amendment gets us closer to lightening the load on these men and women operating on behalf of our national security.”
The amendment would prohibit reducing the rate of per diem for military members and civilian employees based on the duration of work or duty travel. Recently, the Department of Defense (DOD) altered the per diem allowance for long-term temporary duty (TDY) workers. DOD reduced per diem allowances 25 percent for TDY periods longer than 30 days and 45 percent for those lasting longer than 180 days.
Last October Kilmer and other members sent a letter to the Department of Defense noting that in 2013 the General Services Administration (GSA) froze per diem rates and made it harder for federal workers on required travel to find lodging. The GSA’s Government-Wide Travel Advisory Committee also found that the prior lodging per diem calculation methodology was data-driven, accountable, and transparent.
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