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The On the Hill: Breaking Down DC podcast is a collection of sharing more about what’s happening in DC without the bias, ways for you to get involved with the US government, and interviews with friends, colleagues who can help pull back the proverbial curtain of Washington, DC. Katherine Getty, host of the OTH podcast, is a 10-year Washingtonian who lives and breathes politics.
Katherine Getty 0:01
Hi, and welcome to the on the Hill podcast with me your host, Katherine Getty. Each Thursday, I'll peel back the curtain of what happens in Washington, from breaking down current events without bias, to interviews with fellow political nerds, and even and maybe most importantly, ways for you to get involved with our US government. Hi, and welcome back to another episode of On the hill podcast with me your host, Katherine Getty. This week is all things National Defense Authorization Act. I'm going to give you the T on what that is giving you some ideas about why is it important to our national security. And also, I wanted to give you an update on and reminder on the congressional baseball game. So let's start with that. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, I talked about the congressional baseball game which I'm not just talking about the game because it's one of my favorite things in DC. But I think it's a really great way to showcase bipartisanship. You know, the teams are separated by Democrats and Republicans but it is just so fun to watch members that are typically in dresses or suits or whatever they may be formal attire, formal business attire, kind of cut loose and try to play baseball some are better than others. It's a reminder to not only go listen to last week's episode, Episode 21 but also give it you know, if you're ever coming to DC in the summertime, see if the game is happening. It happens at Nationals Park, it's really fun to go see it also, I believe is on fox sports. So if you tune in, you can tune in. And it's a really fun game to watch. But I'm going to transition to, like I said the National Defense Authorization Act it otherwise known as NDA because DC loves an acronym. And it's the federal law in the United States that specifies the annual budget and expenditures for the Department of Defense, otherwise known as the DOD. NDAA is one of the most important pieces of legislation. It is something that has been passed year over year, there are always hiccups. This is Washington, there are always hiccups. But it is something that folks can really rally around. I think not only because it establishes those policies and programs and funding levels, but it's it's really the heart of it. It's supporting the US military. And I think there's a really interesting quote that I hope kind of sets up this conversation from House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike, Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican, out of Alabama, he says our adversaries are watching what we do. Weakness is not an option. And I think that we can all have a lot of opinions about how much money how much of our tax dollars are spent on security, and different things like that. But the NDAA is really, at its heart trying to support the military. Now, does that mean that Republicans and Democrats fully align on what those policies and programs should look like? If you guess no, then you'd be correct. There are definitely differences on where Congress thinks the military should go or what policies and programs should be prioritized over others. And so the NDAA really lays out, I would say, five and five or six areas. One, it's that budget allocation that I reference, the NDAA authorizes the funding for DOD and other national security programs. And it includes everything from military personnel salaries, to weapons procurement, to r&d research and development to the maintenance of military infrastructure. So think, of keeping submarines and planes and tanks and automobiles and all the different things. So that's one piece of the NDAA is that budget allocation. There's then the policy directive. So the policy directives as it the name kind of suggests, sets forth policies and guidelines that the DoD must follow. It can include directives. And this is kind of I would say, similar to when we talked about appropriations in the past report language. So if you think about bills in Congress, there's always going to be a piece kind of like it's called can be called a directive, a sense of Congress report language. It's basically Congress saying to insert, you know, agency, XYZ, this is how we think it should be done, which is the role of Congress, but where the rubber meets the road is when things are getting implemented, may that be at DOD or through agencies and their regulations. So it's a really important part of it. And those policy directives can be updated every single year through NDA. Then there's program funding. This is detailed, detailed numbers for specific programs and projects. So think F 30, fives or maybe they're working on different policy net initiatives on health care something along those lines. That's where those very, very granular program, fundings happens. Another piece of the NDAA works on its personnel matters. The NDAA includes provisions related to, to military personnel such as pay raises health care benefits, retirement benefits and policies regarding military justice and discipline. If you think about our military, and I will say as the daughter of two military veterans, things like raises and benefits and retirement benefits are crucial, because we're asking we, as the American people, just kind of assume sometimes that there will be that next person that that joins the military that's willing, at some point, potentially, to sacrifice their life I grew up during the times of when Afghanistan and Iraq was really, those kinds of operations are really, I remember seeing kids, and I call them kids intentionally going over to a place that's far away to defend freedom. And I think that with the NDAA, kind of working on some of those pieces, and for many years, military pay wasn't being increased. And we had, as a country a real issue on our hands now, is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it's getting better. And the NDAA seeks to kind of adjust that and fine, fine tune it over time. defense strategy is also included. Now, final decision and implementation obviously goes to DOD and the commander in chief, the president. But the NDAA often outlines key strategic priorities for the military, including addressing emerging threats, strengthening alliances and partnerships, and improving military readiness. We don't think about going to war, or hopefully we don't have to go to war, but we don't think about going to war, and then building the ships or then training our people were constantly and that flex. And I think that's something that the DoD is really good at that probably other parts of the US government should do more. But that defense strategy can be kind of highlighted what Congress thinks is important, can be included in the NDAA. And lastly, it's probably comes as no surprise but congressional oversight. That's really, if we go back to when we talked about the role of Congress. That's a huge part of what they do is that congressional oversight and Congress exercises its oversight responsibilities over the military, via NDAA. The Act includes reporting requirements or stipulations or congressional notifications on certain military actions, because it's a way that it's becoming more transparent. So I talk all about the NDAA. And I didn't share this earlier, but it's because it's going through the it's gone through the House committee process and will be on the House floor later this week. I think it's really important that I'm providing to you in real time, bills that are happening that really impact the country and NDAA surely fits into that bucket. The NDAA, like I said, is a federal law that specifies the annual budget expenditures for DOD, it places and establishes moreso policies, programs, funding levels for the US military. We talked today about budget allocations, policy directives, program funding, personnel matters, strategy and congressional oversight. And I hope that as this bill progresses as it goes through the House floor and then has a similar process through the Senate, you're kind of hearing in the news, and you have a little bit more information. As always, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of The on the Hill podcast. If you haven't, go ahead and like and subscribe so that each Thursday another episode of The on the Hill podcast will be where you listen to podcasts, may there be Spotify, iTunes, wherever it may be. Also, I'm on Instagram. My handle is at Katherine Getty. The podcast handle is on the Hill DC podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of On the hill and see you next week.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai