Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker said the committee recently advanced a National Defense Authorization Act that raises investment in U.S. national security and will proceed to a full vote in the U.S. Senate.
Wicker said the bill, which he described as written to address modern threats, matches President Donald Trump’s call for larger defense spending. He said the legislation authorizes more ships, streamlines ship purchasing, approves new aircraft, upgrades the nuclear deterrent and creates a position dedicated to cyber defense.
The chairman said the bill also increases production of low-cost drones and munitions and includes reforms intended to rein in Pentagon bureaucracy. Wicker said the measure allows multi-year contracts for 22 new weapons and would require large defense companies to reinvest earnings from taxpayer-funded contracts into capacity and manufacturing jobs.
Wicker said the NDAA would raise recruitment caps to allow the military to hire more than 40,000 additional service members, boost pay by 3.6%, and improve housing, barracks and childcare capacity. He said the bill expands health care benefits, strengthens mental health and suicide-prevention efforts, and reinforces merit-based personnel policies.
Wicker said the legislation devotes resources to Mississippi’s drone producers, solid rocket motor manufacturers and shipbuilders, and supports projects such as sea-based rocket launch platforms. He wrote that the bill will bring investments to the state’s research universities, startups and advanced manufacturers and said he will continue advocating for Mississippi’s defense priorities as the bill moves to the full Senate. The comments appeared in a post by Wicker on Magnolia Tribune, he said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
