(The Center Square) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, applauded the Senate passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.
The defense budget bill, which has bipartisan support, now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives and will later be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“This bipartisan bill invests in our country’s service members and their families, and the success of New Mexico’s national labs and military installations,” Heinrich said. “I am especially pleased that the bill we passed makes major investments to provide our Armed Forces with the state-of-the-art equipment they need to stay ahead of our adversaries and advance our leadership in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. These provisions will help grow New Mexico’s economy and cement our state’s leadership in national security for years to come.
“I’m disappointed that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendment and the FEND Off Fentanyl Act were excluded from the final NDAA,” he added. “These provisions are top priorities for our state, and I will continue to fight until they become law.”
The NDAA sets the Department of Defense spending levels and policies. It also does the same for the Department of Energy’s programs at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories and the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup programs like the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
Heinrich advocated many provisions related to New Mexico, according to a release. This included $24 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration at Sandia National Laboratories, $1.79 billion for Los Alamos National Laboratory’s research and development program, $276 million for environmental cleanup at the two labs, $464 million to operate the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, $7.5 million to make a U.S. Space Force modeling and simulation hub, and $687 million for artificial intelligence development, among other provisions.
