Representative David Rouzer

Dear [salutation],

This past week, the House passed the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to help ensure our military is prepared to combat increasing threats around the world while improving the pay and benefits for our U.S. military servicemembers and their families. We also passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, an important bill that improves the nation’s ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other aspects of our water resources infrastructure. More details about these important bills are below.

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House Passes Fiscal Year 2025

National Defense Authorization Act

On Wednesday of last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to fund the Department of Defense (DoD) and ensure our troops are better compensated for the great sacrifices they make.

The NDAA represents a powerful bipartisan effort to ensure America has the strongest military in the world and is focused on deterring our enemies as we confront dangerous and uncertain times. This legislation also makes key quality-of-life investments so servicemembers and their families, who sacrifice day-in and day-out to protect our freedoms, get better pay and benefits. This is a critical moment in time to correct course, and House Republicans are dedicated to bolstering our nation’s defense.

Also included in the NDAA is a provision I authored to improve and speed up projects at our ports. Since ports are often multimodal hubs, they can have oversight of different road and rail projects. Under current rules, permitting can take a long time. In March, I introduced the Permitting Optimization for Responsible Transportation (PORT) Act to cut the red tape and streamline these projects.

The bill also authorizes deployment of the National Guard to the southern border to curb the flood of illegal immigrants and drugs pouring into our country. There have been a record number of criminal illegal immigrants crossing our southern border bringing in drugs and, in some cases, even killing innocent people. Meanwhile, their housing is being paid for by taxpayers. It’s time to enact real reform.

Highlights of the FY25 NDAA:

Includes a 4.5% pay raise for servicemembers
Eliminates the Biden-Harris Administration’s woke agenda for the Pentagon by prohibiting transgender treatments on minors, banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) and dismantling the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy
Provides much-needed funding for housing, childcare and spousal support for servicemembers and their families
Provides our military with critical resources to deter China

You can read a detailed summary of the FY25 NDAA here.

House Passes Bipartisan

Water Resources Development Act

Under the leadership of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO-06) and myself, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 399-18 last Tuesday. This legislation authorizes projects within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Civil Works Program to improve the nation’s ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other aspects of our water resources infrastructure.

WRDA first passed the House in July 2024. After months of negotiations, this bill represents an agreement across both chambers and parties. This bipartisan legislation enhances the efficiency of our ports, harbors, and inland navigation systems, bolsters both domestic and international commerce, and strengthens our resilience during natural disasters. I am grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who helped craft this very important piece of legislation, which will have a lasting impact from coast to coast.

This legislation includes important provisions for North Carolina's water infrastructure, you can read about them here.

This Week's Good News Story

For this week's good news story, I'm highlighting the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s 2,500 students who received their degrees over the weekend. Their hard work, unwavering dedication, and perseverance have brought them to this remarkable milestone. Congratulations, Seahawks — you’ve earned every moment of this success!

Closing Thoughts...

"A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” — Colin Powell