Reps. Barrett, McDonald Rivet see first measures signed into law

President Donald Trump signed the annual Nationwide Protection Authorization Act on Thursday, December 18, a sweeping invoice that included a few of the first laws handed by Michigan’s latest members of Congress.

They embody:

• U.S. Consultant Tom Barrett’s measure requiring the Division of Protection (which the Trump administration refers to because the Warfare Division) to report back to Congress on feasibility of adding collision avoidance technology to military helicopters. Barrett, R-Charlotte, a former Military helicopter pilot who took workplace in January, pushed for change after a deadly crash between a business aircraft and a army helicopter that very same month over the Potomac River.
• U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s proposal to require the Coast Guard to develop and design a plan build a new, robust icebreaker for the Great Lakes (co-authored with Republican U.S. Reps. Tony Wied of Wisconsin and Max Miller of Ohio). A part of one other measure, authored by Rivet, D-Bay Metropolis, and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, that required the Protection Division to have a look at extra environment friendly strategies for remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively referred to as PFAS, and create an internet site the place the general public can monitor cleanup efforts, was additionally included.

The sweeping laws additionally included a provision calling on the Coast Guard to report on the impression on search and rescue efforts after value financial savings. Operations had been scaled again on the Coast Guard’s Saginaw River station final 12 months.

Each Barrett and McDonald Rivet had been elected in 2024 and signify tossup districts that might be aggressive in subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections.

There have been additionally a number of different Michigan-related parts of the invoice, together with $14.2 million for runway enhancements on the Selfridge Air Nationwide Guard base in Macomb County and $4.4 million for building of Camp Grayling. Selfridge is anticipated to obtain a lot of F-15EX fighter jets, which can doubtless defend its future operations. The laws additionally calls for shielding the A-10 Warthogs flying out of Selfridge from early retirement.

Michigan’s Democratic Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin additionally performed a serious function within the invoice’s passage, with each serving on the Senate Armed Providers Committee. The $900 billion defense authorization bill passed the Senate on December 17 by a vote of 77 to twenty and had beforehand been permitted within the U.S. Home of Representatives.

Among the many bigger provisions had been these granting army personnel a 3.8% pay improve and authorizing a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} for army building. Though the Authorizing Act establishes Congress’ insurance policies for the Division of Protection, separate appropriations measures will nonetheless have to be taken to cowl lots of the measures included therein.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Comply with him on X @tsspangler.