Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens will serve as a key negotiator in the effort to merge House and Senate versions of the annual defense authorization bill.
Owens was one of 25 conferees selected by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from outside the House Armed Services Committee, which is represented by 20 of its members, to finalize the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024.
The position will give Owens a unique place at the table in coming weeks to influence the programs, projects and policies that will be implemented by the Department of Defense and other defense-related agencies in the coming year.
“As our nation faces escalating threats from foreign adversaries, our core responsibility in Congress is to deliver a national defense that stands as a global standard of strength, intelligence, and strategic foresight,” Owens said in a statement Wednesday.
“I will work diligently alongside my colleagues to craft a National Defense Authorization Act that provides for the needs of our service members and their families, strengthens homeland defense, and counters the aggression of our adversaries, all while making my constituents in Utah’s Fourth District and Americans across the nation proud.”
How will Owens influence the defense authorization bill?
Owens represents Utah’s 4th Congressional District, which includes the western portions of Salt Lake and Utah counties, and all of Sanpete County. While the district does not have any military bases, it is home to Camp Williams, a Utah National Guard training site west of Lehi.
One of Owens’ priorities for the FY2024 NDAA will be to secure the passage of the Retain Skilled Veterans Act, an Owens spokesperson said. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Blake Moore, of Utah’s 1st Congressional District, aims to increase veteran hiring by permanently waiving the requirement that former servicemen must wait six months after their retirement to apply for certain Department of Defense positions.
Moore has said the bill would make it easier for veterans to find employment and would be a boon for Utah’s Hill Air Force Base, located near Clearfield within his district. The bill, which Owens co-sponsored, was included in the House version of the defense authorization bill passed in July, along with a number of “culture war” amendments that are unlikely to survive the House-Senate reconciliation process which Owens will soon be a part of.
What are the NDAA’s ‘culture war’ amendments?
Some of the measures least likely to garner support in the Democratic-led Senate include amendments repealing the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing abortion-related travel costs, limiting the military’s insurance coverage of gender-transition treatments, and prohibiting the use of federal funds for military diversity, equity and inclusion activities.
Owens has signaled his support for the controversial amendments, criticizing what he sees as a deterioration of military readiness under the Biden administration.
“In only three years, President (Joe) Biden has managed to tarnish our Armed Forces’ 248-year legacy of service by prioritizing identity politics and failing to stand up to our adversaries in Beijing, Tehran, and Moscow. This year’s Department of Defense priorities are clear: Taxpayer-funded abortions, DEI programs, and divisive Critical Race Theory,” Owens told the Deseret News in July, shortly before the passage of the House NDAA for FY2024.
In the reconciliation process, Owens will also push for the inclusion of an amendment that would reinstate service members who were fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccines. Owens sponsored a bill to the same effect in June.
“Jeopardizing the might and readiness of our U.S. Military, President Biden and his administration discharged more than 8,400 active-duty servicemen and women for choosing not to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” Owens said in a statement about the bill. “Despite signing Republicans’ repeal of the vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. armed forces, there is no plan to repay these men and women who were wrongfully fired.”
What’s next for the defense authorization bill?
The 2,300-page, $870 billion House NDAA passed mostly along party lines in mid-July, with all of Utah’s House members voting in favor. It will now enter a bicameral, bipartisan conference in which it and the Senate NDAA, of similar length and cost, must be synthesized into a final product that can pass both chambers before being signed by the president.
The Senate bill includes the same 5.2% pay raise for service members and Department of Defense employees, as well as assistance for Ukraine and resources to counter China. However, it passed with more bipartisan support than the House version, as it excludes any “culture war” amendments.
During the bicameral conference, constituents and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to influence additional provisions to be added or blocked from the final bill.
Following the reconciliation process, the conference committee will produce a “conference report” containing the final legislative language, which will receive a final debate in both chambers but cannot receive any additional amendments.