U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement regarding the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

“I am pleased that a number of provisions in the bill passed today could benefit the Airmen and their families who serve at MacDill Air Force Base, including a 2.1 percent pay raise for our troops and their families and an authorization for an Army Reserve Center/Aviation Support Facility on base. 
 
“I have talked with many MacDill families who want to send their children to Tinker Elementary School on base since it provides students with a support system, counselors and administrators who understand the unique needs and challenges of military families. I have worked with a number of people in the community to expand Tinker to include grades six, seven and eight, but more work needs to be done to address the overcrowding and build permanent structures for students. I was able to have language included in the final NDAA bill that would update a 2011 assessment of public schools on Department of Defense installations. This reassessment will hopefully give Tinker a fighting chance at moving up on the list to receive resources to build permanent structures for students to learn in the best possible environment.

“I was also pleased that the 2017 NDAA did not include a number of provisions that politicized the usually bipartisan bill. The bill I voted on today did not include a budget gimmick that my Republican colleagues used in the House version earlier this spring, which took $18 billion from Overseas Contingency Operations to spend on items not requested by the Administration. This would have meant that our troops in combat would have run out of money by April 30, 2017, which was unacceptable. Additionally, a provision that was included in the House version was stripped, which would have allowed discrimination against LGBT and other individuals by federal contractors and grant recipients.”

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