Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025—which includes pay raises for U.S. service members and critical funding for military installations in Nevada.
“This bipartisan bill will strengthen our national security, support our service members, and keep Nevadans safe,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I voted to deliver vital support to Nevada’s military families, invest in our military bases, and bolster our state’s critical mineral industries, which are essential for our national defense supply chains. I’ll keep working in the Senate to stand up for Nevadans and protect our future.”
The FY2025 NDAA includes a well-deserved 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% pay raise for all other service members. Expanded child care benefits for military families as well as increased funding to help the U.S. combat foreign influence operations, boost America’s global competitiveness, and support our allies and partners abroad are also included in the FY2025 NDAA. Additionally, Senator Cortez Masto fought to ensure that there was no funding to restart the failed Yucca Mountain project in the legislation and secured the following Nevada priorities in the NDAA:
- Investments to enhance the infrastructure and readiness of Nevada’s military installations.
- $45 million to improve training facilities at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Fallon, as well as $48.3 million for the second phase of expanding the Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC).
- $18 million to build a new training range at the Hawthorne Army Depot.
- Over $161 million for projects at the Nevada National Security Site.
- Increased paid military leave for reserve service members.
- The NDAA builds on Cortez Masto’s bipartisan legislation and will increase the number of days of paid military leave available to federal employees who are also reserve service members, including those in the National Guard, the Army Reserve, and the Air Force Reserve.
- Provision to protect access to contraception for service members.
- The defense bill ensures birth control is available for service members and their families under Tricare without a copay.
- Cortez Masto’s bipartisan legislation to cut through red tape and make it easier for qualified service members to access student loan forgiveness.
- Actions to improve military nutrition on Nevada bases, including Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases.
- In 2022, Cortez Masto passed bipartisan legislation authorizing the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on the quality and nutrition of food available at military installations.
- This year’s defense bill builds on her work by requiring DOD to implement these recommendations to improve military nutrition in Nevada and across the country.
- Language to ensure Filipino veteran families have access to the benefits they’ve earned.
- Cortez Masto advocated to allow Filipino veterans who served along the U.S. in WWII and the Vietnam war to be buried in federally-funded state veterans’ cemeteries.
Senator Cortez Mato is a champion for our service members and their families, as well as our veterans. Last year, she secured the expansion of the Fallon Range Training Complex through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Through her Brian Neuman Act, Senator Cortez Masto was able to remove roadblocks for disabled veterans accessing their benefits. She also helped pass the PACT Act to ensure veterans suffering from toxic exposure in the line of duty get the medical care they need and worked across the aisle to get legislation helping veterans exposed to Agent Orange and expanding benefits for women veterans signed into law.
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