Today, the House of Representatives passed the 56^th National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Passing this bill is vital to fund our troops and ensure the strength of our military. The NDAA includes a full 2.1% pay raise for our troops, stops the drawdown of our military and improves access to quality care for our warfighters, retirees, and their families.

One notable provision in the NDAA is the Joint Trauma Education and Training Directorate. This will combine our trauma teams in the military with the civilian sector, serving the needs of our military medical professionals and our local communities, and maintain medical readiness in our military.

Wenstrup delivered the following remarks before passage on the House floor:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the conference report to accompany S.2943, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. Congress has upheld its constitutional duty to “provide for the common defense” by passing the NDAA 55 years in a row, and I look forward to making this the 56^th.

This bipartisan bill contains a number of vitally important provisions to support our troops deployed overseas, stop the dangerous drawdown of the military, and begin rebuilding our force for the future.

It increases the end strength of our Armed Forces, gives our troops a substantial pay raise, and maintains restrictions on the administration’s ability to bring terrorist detainees from Guantanamo to U.S. soil.

One provision I am particularly proud of is the Joint Trauma Education and Training Directorate. Too often we take for granted the readiness of our military doctors and surgeons, when in reality their skills and knowledge are earned through work in grueling, dangerous conditions, and must be maintained through frequent practice.

The Joint Trauma Education and Training Directorate will support partnerships allowing military trauma surgeons and physicians to embed within civilian trauma centers to treat critically injured patients, maintaining medical readiness and deployability for future armed conflicts. By connecting the Department of Defense with civilian hospitals, these partnerships will serve the needs of our military medical professionals and our local communities, to the benefit of the whole nation.

I urge my colleagues to support this important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.