What the National Defense Authorization Act means for Virgini
The defense authorization bill is back on the table — and so are investments for Hampton Roads.
One billion dollars in funding for military construction in Virginia, including millions for quality-of-life improvements for service members, are included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. The bill will authorize funding for fiscal year 2026’s military spending.
The bipartisan measure has passed every year for over 60 years, and this one stands to be no different, said Sen. Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Virginia Democrat said if one theme dominated the Senate’s discussion this year, it was the need to accelerate and improve shipbuilding and repair.
“Obviously that has a huge impact on Hampton Roads and on Virginia generally,” said Kaine. “I feel that the shipbuilding and ship repair part of this bill is strong.”
Rep. Jen Kiggans shared a similar sentiment in a statement about the House bill, which passed Wednesday.
“This year’s NDAA delivers for Hampton Roads by strengthening naval aviation and shipbuilding, protecting access to quality health care for military children, and ensuring the quality-of-life our troops and families deserve,” said the Virginia Beach Republican.
Here’s a look at some of the provisions that would turn into major investments locally when allocated.
Quality of life
The draft legislation includes a 3.8% pay raise for service members. That’s in addition to the 4.5 percent raise included in last year’s bill.
This year’s bill also addresses housing issues in Hampton Roads — $380 million will be allocated to construct housing for unaccompanied sailors at Naval Station Norfolk.
The effort to add additional housing options follows an investigation conducted by the Navy from 2022-23 into whether poor housing conditions contributed to a spate of suicides among sailors assigned to the USS George Washington at the Newport News shipyard in 2022.
Sailors living onboard the ship during its maintenance period described their living conditions as akin to living in a construction site, with frequent power outages, a lack of hot water and constant noise.
Addressing mental health challenges among service members through quality-of-life improvements has been a growing focus in Congress in recent years.
One step was the passage of the Brandon Act, included in the 2022 defense budget. Named for Brandon Caserta, a sailor stationed at Naval Station Norfolk who died by suicide in 2018, the act aims to expand access to mental health care by allowing service members to seek help confidentially, outside of their chain of command.
The Senate’s current defense budget bill includes a request for a briefing from the service branches on how the law is being implemented.
Shipbuilding
The bill attempts to remedy delays in the military’s shipbuilding program. A number of provisions are included to ramp up production and workforce development.
The House bill authorizes over $22 billion in new shipbuilding, including a Columbia-class submarine, Virginia-class submarine and Ford-class aircraft carrier. The Senate bill, which has yet to be approved, contains $29 billion.
As tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. will need to produce two Virginia-class submarines per year, Kaine said. And as part of an agreement signed in 2021 among the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia, the U.S. is responsible for delivering three to five Virginia-class submarines to Australia over the next decade.
At the moment, the shipbuilding program is behind by an average of almost one ship per year.
“Right now, we’re producing about 1.4 Virginia-class subs per year, and we need to get to 2.3 by the early 2030s,” said Kaine. “That’s not going to be easy.”
The Senate expects to vote on its version next week. The bills will then advance to the Conference Committee where members of both chambers will work towards a compromise bill before it goes back to the full Congress for approval.
Emma Rose Brown, 757-805-2256, emma.brown@virginiamedia.com
