Sánchez votes for the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA) voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023. Congresswoman Sánchez secured passage of seven amendments in the bill, including provisions to protect servicemembers' from financial harm, address the impact of climate change on our national security, combat misinformation, and examine obstacles that women and LGBTQI+ veterans face in accessing housing.

"Today, I proudly voted for the 2023 NDAA—critical legislation that ensures our armed forces have the resources they need to keep us safe, and that military families have access to the benefits they have earned and deserve," said Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez. "I am also proud that the bill contains seven of my amendments, including a provision I have long championed that would protect servicemembers' credit reports while they are serving our country overseas."

Congresswoman Sánchez first introduced the Fair Credit Reporting for Servicemembers Act in 2014, after meeting with the parents of a Navy Seal who lost his life in Afghanistan. In his honor, they created a group to help veterans who had recently returned home open their own businesses. While updating Congresswoman Sánchez on the organization's challenges and successes, they shared one hurdle that kept coming up over and over: service members and veterans were having trouble obtaining loans to help grow their businesses. This was often due to missing payments while they were deployed, resulting in hits to their credit. The Fair Credit Reporting for Servicemembers Act would prevent these "dings" to servicemembers' credit while they are serving in a combat zone or aboard a U.S. vessel.

Congresswoman Sánchez continued: "As Acting Head of the U.S. Delegation to NATO PA, I am proud to be a leading voice on security issues that affect both our country and our Alliance as a whole. Climate change is one of those issues, and we are already witnessing its devastating effects at home and abroad. Growing resource scarcity, loss of livelihoods, and displacement will likely exacerbate local and international tensions if we do not act now. One of my amendments to the NDAA, which successfully passed the House, will help ensure the U.S. and NATO work together to combat the threat of climate change on our security."

In her capacity as Acting Head of the U.S. Delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Association (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly (PA), and as Special Rapporteur for the Committee on Democracy and Security, Congresswoman Sánchez produced a draft report on the impact of climate change on NATO's security. Congresswoman Sánchez presented her report to fellow lawmakers during the NATO PA 2022 Spring Session in Vilnius, Lithuania. The report will be finalized at the Madrid Annual Session in November.

Congresswoman Sánchez secured the following amendments in the House version of the FY 2023 NDAA, which now heads to the Senate for consideration:

1. Directs the Permanent Representative to NATO to advocate for resources towards understanding, communicating, and combatting the threat posed by climate change to our security.
2. States that it is the sense of Congress that the United States should prioritize countering misinformation.
3. Requires the Secretary of Defense to issue a report assessing NATO's efforts to counter misinformation and disinformation and offer recommendations.
4. Requires a briefing and report on how the Department of Defense is working with the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence to improve NATO's ability to counter and mitigate disinformation.
5. Extends consumer credit protections to active duty armed and uniformed consumers in a combat zone, aboard a U.S. vessel, or away from their usual duty stations and prohibiting the inclusion on a consumer report of adverse credit information that occurred while a uniformed consumer was serving overseas.
6. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to issue a report on the barriers that veterans who are members of protected classes face in accessing housing programs. Additionally requires the report to examine obstacles that veterans with multigenerational/extended families face in accessing these programs.
7. Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to issue a report on how often and what type of supportive services (such as career transition and mental health services) are being offered to and used by veterans. Additionally requires the report to include data on how many veterans fall back into housing insecurity after receiving supportive services.

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