In Committee, Rosen Helps Advance Bipartisan National Defense Bill with Major Wins for Nevada, Servicemembers

Senator Rosen Helped Write and Pass the Legislation to Provide A 3.6% Pay Raise for Troops, Establish A Uniform Policy on Hate Symbols, Authorize Military Construction Projects in Nevada, And More

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced several major wins for servicemembers in Nevada and across the country that she helped secure in the bipartisan national defense bill that advanced out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Senate's bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27 NDAA) contains 50 provisions championed by Senator Rosen, including a provision to establish a uniform policy across all of the service branches regarding hate symbols such as swastikas. At Rosen's urging, the bill also does not change U.S. policy regarding the resumption of explosive nuclear testing in Nevada or anywhere else in the U.S.

The Senate's bipartisan national defense bill also authorizes funding for projects at several key military installations in Nevada, such as Creech Air Force Base, Nellis Air Force Base, and for the Nevada National Guard. This bipartisan bill also supports enlisted retention efforts through higher pay, provides a 3.6% pay raise for all troops, does not authorize any funding for defense nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain, and includes two of Senator Rosen's bipartisan bills - the OASIS in the Middle East Act and the Strategic Unmanned Systems Partnership Act..

"It is my priority to strengthen national security and ensure our military has all the resources it needs to support our servicemembers that keep our nation safe. I'm proud to shape this year's bipartisan national defense package in committee in a way that supports our servicemembers and veterans in Nevada, enhances military readiness, and creates a clear strategy for our missions abroad," said Senator Rosen. "This bipartisan legislation includes key provisions I secured to support essential national security installations in Nevada, provide a deserved pay raise for our service members, and ensure that explosive nuclear testing does not ever restart in Nevada again."

Rosen-led provisions in the FY27 NDAA include, among others:

• Creech Air Force Base Ambulatory Care Center Addition and Alteration: This provision authorizes more than $25 million to construct a flight medicine clinic, an addition to the dental clinic, and an ambulance garage that provides outpatient medical and dental care. Due to Creech's remote location, Airmen must travel 60 minutes each way to and from Nellis Air Force Base to access many routine medical care services. This lost duty time negatively impacts Creech's unique 24/7 warfighting operations.

• Nellis Air Force Base F-47 Basing Projects: This provision authorizes more than $730 million for 16 military construction projects at Nellis Air Force Base to support the future basing of the F-47. Nellis AFB has been identified by the Secretary of the Air Force as the location for F-47 operational test and weapons school missions.

• Creech Air Force Base Mission Support Facility: This provision authorizes $55 million for construction of a mission support facility at Creech Air Force Base. Currently, inadequate facilities adversely impact the ability of Creech Air Force Base to support the needs of the Airmen and their family members, which leads to travel to Nellis. The new Mission Support Facility would provide a permanent, consolidated facility in support of mission and support services for all personnel at Creech. Senator Rosen previously secured planning and design funding for this project.

• Creech Air Force Base Warrior Fitness Center: This provision authorizes $104 million for construction of an adequately sized and outfitted fitness center to support the fitness, health, and morale needs of Airmen across Creech Air Force Base. Senator Rosen previously secured planning and design funding for this project.

• Nevada Army National Guard's Henderson Readiness Center Expansion: This provision authorizes more than $2.3 million for planning and design for an expansion of the Nevada Army National Guard Readiness Center in Henderson, Nevada.

• Report on DOD-VA Sharing Agreement for Mobile Medical Units: This provision would direct the Department of Defense (DOD) and the VA to study the feasibility of entering into a share agreement for mobile medical units that are currently operated by the VA. The intended share agreement would allow the VA to use mobile medical units to provide medical services to servicemembers at installations designated as remote and isolated installations, and increase health care access for servicemembers.

• Standardize DOD-VA Health Care Provider Credentialing: This provision requires a briefing from the Secretary of Defense on the privileging and credentialing of health care providers within the Military Health System and potential integration with the VA.
  • This is based on Rosen-led bipartisan legislation, which would allow medical providers to more easily practice between the DOD and the VA to bolster access and efficiency of health care for servicemembers and veterans.

• Expansion of the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER): This provision authorizes DOD to expand the toxic exposure database, the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER), as the authoritative record of toxic exposures for servicemembers, veterans, and their families - to include exposures experienced by family members during accompanied tours. Currently, the ILER system is limited to DOD and VA providers and researchers. Veterans and their families cannot access their exposure history, and family members' exposure is not documented. Last year in the FY26 NDAA, Senator Rosen included a provision which codified ILER as the system that each of the services must utilize and requires the documentation of exposures at all locations, including those that occur domestically.

• Transportation Allowance for Servicemembers Stationed at Remote and Isolated Installations: This provision authorizes the DOD to provide a transportation allowance for servicemembers stationed at remote and isolated installations who have long commutes because of a lack of housing or essential services near their assigned duty stations. In Nevada, both Naval Air Station Fallon and Creech AFB are classified as remote and isolated installations. The FY26 NDAA included Senator Rosen's provision to designate Creech AFB as such.

• Pilot Program on Department of Defense Cyber Research Partnerships with Universities and Colleges: Establishes a pilot partnership between DOD advanced cyberspace operations, information aggressor units, with universities designated by the National Security Agency as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity. The University of Nevada Las Vegas, the University of Nevada Reno, and the College of Southern Nevada have this designation. This provision would strengthen the U.S. cyber workforce pipeline and enhance military cyber training through academic collaboration, research, cyber range exercises, and create direct pathways for students into federal cybersecurity careers.

• Hearing Aid Coverage for Children of Retired Servicemembers: Extends hearing aid coverage to children of all retired servicemembers, including retired members of the reserve components. This builds on Senator Rosen's work in the FY24 NDAA that extended hearing aid coverage to dependents of retired active duty servicemembers.

• Child and Youth Programs Standardization: Requires the Secretary of Defense to standardize the collection and reporting of data related to child care capacity, workforce readiness, and waitlists across the Armed Forces and military installations, including disaggregated data on utilization, staffing, unmet demand, and fee assistance programs.

• Hate Symbol Policy: This provision requires the DOD to establish a single, department-wide hate symbol policy applicable to all servicemembers and civilian employees, ensuring consistent definitions, enforcement, and accountability across all DOD components. Currently, symbol policies vary across military service branches, creating inconsistent standards and potential enforcement gaps when it comes to hate symbols. This lack of uniformity makes it harder to prevent, identify, and address symbols that promote hate, and can allow displays to go unaddressed depending on branch-specific rules.
  • This comes after Senator Rosen successfully pushed the U.S. Coast Guard last year to reverse its decision to no longer prohibit nor classify swastikas and nooses as symbols whose display constitute "potential hate incidents.

• Antisemitism Audit: This provision requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct an assessment of the status and efficiency of antisemitism training within the Department of Defense.

• Middle East Integrated Air and Missile Defense Acquisition Strategy: This provision requires CENTCOM to develop an air and missile defense acquisition strategy with partners and allies in the Middle East, including Israel and Abraham Accords partners, to ensure that the U.S. and countries in the region have the resources to defend against Iranian missile, UAS, and rocket attacks.
  • This provision is based on Senator Rosen's bipartisan legislation that she introduced along with her Abraham Accords Caucus co-chairs.

• U.S. - Ukraine Strategic Defense Innovation Working Group: This provision requires the DOD to establish a working group with the Armed Forces of Ukraine focused on the mutual development and acquisition of drone technology and other unmanned systems. It would also create frameworks to accelerate the co-development, co-production, and rapid acquisition of Ukraine-designed unmanned systems.
  • This provision is based on Senator Rosen's bipartisan legislation focused on increasing U.S.-Ukraine drone technology cooperation.

• Report on CENTCOM's Role in International Stabilization Force: This provision requires a report from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) that describes the extent to which U.S. forces are supporting or participating in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza.

• Report and Strategy on Hezbollah Disarmament in Lebanon: This provision requires a report from DOD on the actions the Government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have taken to disarm Hezbollah since October 7, 2023.

• Extension of the Counter ISIS Train and Equip Fund: This provision extends the authority in the Fiscal Year 2015 NDAA for U.S. assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces to prevent an ISIS resurgence and reinforce stability in the region.

• U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Strategy to Address Sahel Intelligence Black Hole: This provision requires a strategy from AFRICOM on how it plans to address intelligence gathering shortcomings throughout Africa, where terrorism is becoming a global threat. The strategy will require AFRICOM to address intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) needs and provide an assessment of how it plans to compete in the information space on the continent.

• Establish a Universal System for Designating Remote and Isolated Installations: This provision requires the Secretary of Defense to establish universal, standardized guidance and a tiered classification system to define and designate remote and isolated military installations, such as NAS Fallon and Creech AFB. Historically, individual military branches used their own disjointed criteria. This provision creates uniformity to ensure that Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) programs are fairly distributed based on an installation's actual degree of isolation and prioritizes resources to support basic needs, family support, medical & safety, and spouse quality of life.

• Report on Behavioral and Social Conditions at Remote and Isolated Installations: Directs the Secretary of Defense to assess the behavioral and social health conditions of servicemembers and their families assigned to remote and isolated installations, such as NAS Fallon and Creech AFB. These locations often have limited services, limited on-base or nearby housing, and long commute times, which can contribute to added stress and readiness challenges. The assessment will examine how behavioral and social health conditions affect individual, family, and unit readiness; identify key stressors associated with remote assignments; and develop recommendations to improve health outcomes and overall readiness.

• Briefing on the Termination of Eligibility for TRICARE Reserve Select: Reserve component servicemembers are immediately dropped from their TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) health insurance once their orders to transfer into the Individual Ready Reserve or separate from the military are issued, the timing of which is unknown to make arrangements for other health insurance. This provision directs the Secretary of Defense to brief Congress on the TRS challenges that members of the reserve components face when transferring or separating and the actions they will take to address these issues.

Rosen-backed provisions included in the FY27 Senate NDAA:

• U.S. - Israel FUTURES Act: The United States-Israel Framework for Upgraded Technologies, Unified Research, and Enhanced Security (FUTURES) Act will help expand existing bilateral defense cooperation to support long-term research and development with Israel and deployment of jointly developed defense technologies - strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base and ensuring new capabilities quickly reach American and Israeli servicemembers

• C-130H Retirement Prohibition: This provision prohibits the retirement of the C-130H through FY28 as Congress continues to support C-130J procurement for the Air National Guard. The Nevada Air National Guard flies the aging C-130Hs, with half of the squadron's planes (four) currently deployed to CENTCOM in support of Operation Epic Fury.

• The RETAIN Act: This provision authorizes maximum aviation incentive pays and bonuses for eligible service members to improve retention of experienced pilots and aircrew. These changes are intended to help address persistent shortages of qualified aviators and improve long-term readiness across the armed services.

• Increase Funding for U.S. - Israel Cooperation on Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems: This provision increases the authorization of funding for U.S. - Israel cooperation on drones from $70 million in the FY2020 NDAA to $100 million.

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