Sen. Cruz Secures Five Bipartisan Measures, Victories for Texas in the National Defense Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week voted in favor of final passage of the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes five bipartisan victories he secured to protect Texas and the nation. 

Upon passage in the Senate, Sen. Cruz said, “This week, Congress came together to fund our military and protect our national security, and I'm proud it included several of my measures. We live in dangerous times. That’s why I fought to make sure this bill reinforces our defense and national security interests, including by ensuring that B-1 bombers at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas remain as long as necessary for our national defense.

“This legislation also includes a provision of mine to streamline the presidential permitting process for building four bridges across the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Laredo, and Eagle Pass, Texas. These bridges will boost the Texas and U.S. economies by billions of dollars. I was proud to lead on this bipartisan effort, and I look forward to seeing these cross-border bridge projects through to completion.

“Further, the bill includes language I authored to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to influence our children in schools with JROTC programs.

“The NDAA also includes my measure to counter the efforts by the Maduro regime to seize Americans, including Texans, hostage. It requires the State Department to produce a detailed report on efforts by the government of Venezuela to detain American citizens.

“Finally, I’m proud that my legislation to hold corrupt officials accountable for Vladimir Putin’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline was included in the final version of the NDAA.

“Overall, this bill ensures our military is able to defend the United States at home and abroad, and it secures Texas as a pillar of America’s defense capabilities.”

Background:

This year’s NDAA also provides funding for military construction projects in Texas, including:

• $118 million for construction and land acquisition at Ft. Bliss in El Paso;
• $113 million for construction and land acquisition at Red River Army Depot in Texarkana;
• $20 million for barracks construction at Ft. Cavazos in Killeen;
• $18.25 million for developing a microgrid and backup power at Ft. Cavazos in Killeen;
• $90 million to build a chapel at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San  Antonio;
• $48 million to build a cyber operation center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio;
• $20 million to build a child development center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio;
• $16 million to build a warehouse at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Fort Worth; and
• $35 million to build an analytic gas laboratory at DOE’s Pantex plant in Amarillo.

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