The Washington Examiner:
NDAA SIGNED INTO LAW: With a Humvee and an attack helicopter as a backdrop, President Trump signed the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act on Monday at Fort Drum, N.Y., and delivered the massive policy bill into law at the earliest point in decades.
“With this new authorization, we will increase the size and strength of our military by adding thousands of new recruits to active duty, Reserve and National Guard units, including 4,000 new active-duty soldiers. And we will replace aging tanks, aging planes and ships with the most advanced and lethal technology ever developed. And hopefully, we’ll be so strong, we’ll never have to use it, but if we ever did, nobody has a chance,” Trump said to the audience of 10th Mountain Division troops, Pentagon officials and Capitol Hill lawmakers.
The NDAA authorizes new equipment for the military and is part of the second installment of a two-year budget deal by Congress to hike defense spending. Rep. Mac Thornberry, the House Armed Services chairman, said the bill “continues to rebuild and repair our military,” but stressed that Congress has yet to fund the NDAA initiatives with a 2019 defense spending bill. “It is now essential that we follow this bill with matching appropriations before the beginning of the fiscal year,” Thornberry said.
