Florida Democratic Representative Kathy Castor has introduced amendments to the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in support of the health of service members, safe housing for military families, and higher pay.
Rep. Castor, in a press conference, emphasized the need to protect medical institutions like the Sabal Park Clinic due to its providing “important access to our troops and their families, including both basic care and appropriate management of specialty care.”
Castor’s amendments aim to:
- Prohibit funds from being used to close a military treatment facility without an appropriate risk analysis report to Congress.
- Require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report assessing the locality pay system for Department of Defense employees.
- Require a quarterly report to Congress on the performance quality of service provided by privatized housing companies to military installations, specifically those located in extreme weather areas.
She continued, highlighting the service that the Mighty Medics of the 6th Medical Group provide to their patients is “unmatched, and they keep our MacDill community safe, healthy, and mission-ready.”
Castor also explained how her amendments aim to hold military housing contractors accountable, as she pointed out how previous contractors failed to provide adequate housing to the residents of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
“MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida, is also home to the 6th Air Refueling Wing and additional mission partners, including U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the 927th Air Refueling Wing. The service members who call MacDill AFB home deserve to have the best living conditions, but the housing contractor has failed to deliver the highest quality housing. My amendment will hold the housing contractor accountable,” she said.
Finally, the 2026 amendments will provide service members and civilian staff who support the Department of Defense with a pay scale that will “keep up with the rising costs of our region, and my amendment prods the Administration to revise the locality pay in our high-cost region.”
