Hirono secures numerous provisions in Senate Armed Services Committee draft of FY27 National Defense Authorization Act

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, a Hawai‘i Democrat and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, was able to secure numerous provisions that invest in Hawai‘i, military readiness and more in the Senate’s fiscal year 2026-27 National Defense Authorization Act.

The Armed Services Committee draft of the bill was passed last week.

However, she couldn’t — in good conscience — vote to advance a bill that paves the way for an up to 40% increase in U.S. Department of Defense spending, especially as the President Donald Trump Administration wages an illegal war in Iran with no plan or end in sight.

“Our nation’s strength depends not only on our military power, but also on the economic well-being of our people,” Hirono said in a statement following the committee’s passage of the draft bill. “At a time when families across the country are struggling with skyrocketing costs, the Trump Administration is asking Congress to authorize a massive increase in defense spending just months after slashing programs like [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] and Medicaid, upon which millions of Americans rely.”

She said equally concerning is that the bill comes amid Pentagon leadership’s racist and sexist war on diversity, equity and inclusion, including the firing and withheld promotion of dozens of officers, most of whom are women or people of color.

“While I’m proud of many of the provisions in this bill that support our servicemembers and our national security, I voted against authorizing a massive increase in military spending for this regime,” Hirono said. “I remain committed to working toward a final version of the bill that balances the importance of our national security with the domestic needs of the American people.”

Here’s a look at just some of what Hirono was able to secure and support in the draft National Defense Authorization Act. The bill includes provisions introduced by the senator that:

Deliver for Hawai‘i

• Directs the U.S. Secretary of the Army to seek from Hawaii, on terms acceptable to the Army and state, a renewal of expiring training land leases.
• Adds $17 million for the Pacific Intelligence and Innovation Initiative, which creates a local skilled workforce to meet demand for intelligence, information technology and cyberprofessionals in Hawai‘i and address cuts in the president’s budget.
• $9.5 million increase for the Pacific Disaster Center, which mitigates the large program cuts in the president’s budget.
• Adds $20 million for the High-Performance Computing Modernization program to address cuts in the president’s budget.
• Establishes a grant program to help small businesses and nontraditional contractors cover Level 2 Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification costs.
• Authorizes $50 million for supplemental impact aid to educational agencies affected by the enrollment of military and U.S. Department of Defense civilian dependents, $10 million for impact aid for children with severe disabilities and $20 million for local educational agencies determined to have high concentrations of military children with severe disabilities.

Invest in critical infrastructure

• $142 million for the next increment of funding for airfield pavement upgrades at Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands on Kaua‘i.
• $3.6 million for the secure integration support lab and land acquisition at Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site.

Support servicemembers, veterans and their families

• Authorizes a 3.6% pay raise for all military members.
• Requires the Department of Defense to provide the complete, unredacted report on the effectiveness of women serving in ground combat roles, including all underlying background information and methodology, to the Government Accountability Office to support an independent third-party study.
• Directs the Defense Department to assess how reversing the influenza vaccine requirement could affect military readiness and report the findings to Congress.
• Protects military retiree freedom of speech by prohibiting Department of Defense leaders from weaponizing the Uniform Code of Military Justice against them.
• Expands the new Defense Health Agency complaint system to explicitly include tracking, reporting, and handling of issues related to women’s healthcare.
• Requires the Secretary of Defense to provide Congress a briefing on the Public Schools on Military Installations Program priority list, which includes several Hawai‘i schools. The briefing must cover an assessment of costs of construction/renovation and a recommended federal/state cost share ratio for funding.
• Allows the Secretary of Defense to establish the pay of wage-grade employees located at any defense industrial base facility in order to make rates of pay comparable to the private sector and surrounding areas.
• Requires address of the oversight gap in the military-to-civilian transition by standardizing the performance metrics for the transition assistance program.
• Expands protected communications of tenants of privatized military housing who report housing-related issues relative to the privatized housing.
• Requires Defense Department and the Veterans Affairs to establish an access to health care pilot program to assess the feasibility and advisability of expanding reciprocal access to health care facilities, personnel and services between the two agencies.
• Expands eligibility for hearing aids to include children of retirees enrolled in family coverage under TRICARE Select.
• Requires Department of Defense notification to the Armed Services Committees after a material failure affects patient care in an operating room, critical care unit, intensive care unit or emergency department at a military medical treatment facility.
• Authorizes the increase of maximum tuition assistance benefit.

Strengthen ability to protect the Indo-Pacific Region:

• Authorizes and extends the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.
• Directs the INDOPACOM Commander to provide an independent assessment of how transfers of personnel, platforms, equipment, munitions and other capabilities from INDOPACOM affect the command’s ability to deter and, if necessary, prevail in conflict in the Indo-Pacific.
• Extends the admission of H-2B nonimmigrant visas to Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by 2 years and adds Wake Island to the list of locations to support military construction projects.
• Authorizes multi-year procurement for certain munitions.
• Enhances Defense Department ability to train ally and partner foreign security force capacity by adding additional authorities to the list of eligible programs the United States would be allowed to provide assistance under security assistance authorities.
• Supports the Navy’s accelerated procurement of amphibious warfare ships by expanding the multi-ship authority.
• Increases the INDOPACOM Commander’s minor military construction threshold from $30 million to 35 million to bolster posture in the Indo-Pacific.
• Increases the unspecified minor military construction threshold from $9 million to $15 million and relieves the area cost factor adjustments for Alaska, Hawai‘i and other islands in the Indo-Pacific for a period of 5 years.
• Requires a strategy for crisis management in the South China Sea.
• Prohibits Department of Defense from retiring or decommissioning in fiscal year 2027 any oceanographic research vessels, including the Kilo Moana operated by the University of Hawai‘i.

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